Category: Software

MUMBAI: London-based television software and services company Motive Television has announced the launch of its TV Anytime Anywhere platform for cable in the US.

The platform delivers on-demand video and live TV to set-top-boxes and multiple mobile devices using the cable operators‘ existing infrastructure. The patented software also increases efficiency and reduces network capacity requirements and content delivery network (CDN) costs by providing a “One-to-Many” device distribution solution.

With Motive‘s TV Anytime Anywhere platform there is no need for costly CDN infrastructure to provide mass entertainment VOD. A cable operator can now deliver VoD titles by downloading them into already-deployed set top boxes. Motive Television‘s platform can then stream or download content from the set-top-box into portable devices such as iPads, tablets, and smartphones.

The viewer enjoys HD and 3D video with no frustrating buffering interruptions, while the operator benefits from significant bandwidth usage savings.

Motive Television‘s platform can integrate social networks such as Facebook and Twitter into the portable viewing experience and works with any digital rights management and/or conditional access system the operator selects.

Coming off of deployments with pay TV operators and broadcasters in Europe, Motive Television is now offering its �add-on’ software-based VOD solution to the US cable market.

Motive Television VP sales, marketing Gianluca Ferremi said, “Nearly three years ago we launched our software solution with broadcaster Mediaset in Italy, who has consistently delivered 40-50 SVoD movies per month, including HD and 3D films. Since then we have continued to establish Motive Television as a leader in providing efficient on-demand programming solutions to pay television operators”.

“We have responded to U.S. marketplace demand for watching what you want, when you want, where you want on any device by creating a custom services platform that leverages existing network assets. This allows cable operators to reduce the distribution cost per movie versus alternative methods, therefore improving the contribution to the bottom line of each viewed title.

�In addition, our video platform enables operators to benefit from VoD, SVOD and TV Everywhere at a low-cost entry point and as a way for them to compete with the likes of Netflix, Redbox and other OTT providers by being able to technically and financially scale their offer to mass audiences.

“Pay TV operators are quickly learning that when demand rises the cost of bandwidth rises. With our ‘One-to-Many‘ content distribution technology, we optimize the delivery platform and in turn keep those costs down while delivering a superior customer experience.”

MUMBAI: Amidst allegations of fudged figures on digitisation penetration, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Wednesday said that the cable television digitisation in the four metros has increased to 77 per cent twenty days before the deadline for shutting down analogue signal.

The digitisation penetration in the four metros according to MIB is 99 per cent in Mumbai, followed by 73 per cent in Kolkata, 66 per cent in Delhi and 59 per cent in Chennai.

The MIB said the digitisation penetration will go up to 84 per cent in the four metros if the cable TV and direct-to-home penetration is taken into account.

The figure was based on data provided by multi-system operators (MSOs) and direct-to-home (DTH) and data derived from 2011 Census. The MIB said that during the initial stage of planning the data was collated based on the information supplied by the MSOs.

The ministry observed that there were grave discrepancies in data provided, particularly number of cable TV subscribers in four metro cities as it did not present the true picture largely due to duplication of cable connections. It also said that the data did not reflect the numbers vis-? -vis service and entertainment tax collection.

“In view of the given discrepancy, the Ministry has under taken the exercise to base the data Census of India 2011, released by Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. This data has authentic figures relating to households and TV penetration in four metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai,” the MIB said in a statement.

City wise data for Metro Cities can be seen in the Table below:

 

To buttress its point of using census data to calculate digitisation penetration, the MIB said that the census data has been widely used both Government and non Government agencies for planning and policy purposes as data collection is done by house to house survey by an impartial body.

As per the data released by MIB on the basis of census figures, 1.86 million STBs have been installed with set-top boxes out of 2.24 million TV households in the city. Out of the 2.24 million TV households, there are 1.54 million cable TV homes and 0.7 million DTH homes.

In Delhi, 1.58 million STBs have been installed out of 1.99 million cable TV subscribers. Kolkata with 2.02 million cable TV subscribers has seen installation of 1.47 million STBs while Chennai with 0.43 million cable TV subscribers has seen installation of 0.25 million STBs.

MUMBAI: Direct-to-home (DTH) service providers will use the short window of three weeks to work on channel packages and market them but this will fall short of price war to grab cable TV customers who are required to shift to digital distribution networks for viewing their television shows by 31 October in the four metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai.

Dish TV, India‘s leading DTH operator, has triggered the marketing warfare with a basic channel tier offering comprising 70 channels, including 22 radio channels operated by All India Radio (AIR), free of cost for five years. But the DTH sector may still breathe easy as there is no battle launched yet on the pay channels which would have hurt the finances of the broadcast-carriage services sector which is struggling with low ARPUs (average revenue per user) and subsidisation of set-top boxes (STBs) necessary for digital TV viewing.

“The price war will start only when pay channels are touched. If there is no insane price war yet, it means that the industry has matured and does not want to sink into further losses just for gaining subscriber volumes,” a media analyst said.

The offer, restricted to new Dish TV subscribers, will include all Doordarshan channels, 9X, Zee Smile, B4U Movies, Cinema TV, News Express, P7News and 9XM. It also has three international channels like NHK World, Russia Today DW-TV Asia+.

The offer also comes with a rider that customers have to remain active by subscribing to a regular package at least twice during the year.

In a nutshell, customers will have to pay Rs 1590 for buying a Dish TV STBs and subsequently have to recharge their account with one of the basic packages twice a year to avail of the pay channels. The cheapest non-south basic package Dish TV offers is the Family pack which is available at Rs 200 for a six-month period (The family pack is priced at Rs. 200 per month).

“The new customers will be eligible to receive a basic channel tier of 70 channels for life (five years). They will just have to do the minimum recharge of Rs 200 every six months to help us identify that they are still on our network,” said Dish TV Chief Operating Officer Salil Kapoor.

Kapoor also informed that in case customers do not recharge twice a year, the free channels will be switched off. He exuded confidence that there would be a significant offtake for the offer since customers don‘t want their television sets to go blank referring to the government diktat that broadcasters will have to switch off signals to analogue homes.

Dish TV’s offer is part of its ‘Go Digital’ campaign for which the operator plans to spend Rs 300 million for multi-media campaign which will include print, on-ground and digial in addition to television commercials, according to Kapoor.

Dish TV plans to spend Rs 900 million towards marketing this fiscal ending 31 March 2013.

Competition unmoved by Dish TV‘s offering

According to an executive from a rival DTH operator, Dish TV‘s new offer is akin to DD Direct Plus (Doordarshan‘s free subscription DTH offering) which offers similar channels and that too at a one time investment of buying a STB. “Customers who want free-to-air channels can opt for DD Direct Plus since they don‘t have to pay for recharging apart from the STB,” the executive said requesting anonymity. Besides, Dish TV has the satellite co-location advantage with DD Direct Plus, the executive added.

Tata Sky managing director Harit Nagpal said that the Dish TV offer is just a re-packaging of an old offer. He also felt that the package is devoid of a competitive advantage since it consists of FTA channels which is also available on DD Direct Plus.

“This product has been in the market for quite sometime. But there was no traction for this kind of product because DTH providers operate in a pay TV market and pay TV customers are looking at pay channels at the end of the day,” Nagpal averred.

Kapoor is, however, undeterred by criticism and is confident that the offer will help Dish TV in consolidating its market leadership, “We expect 7 million consumers to switch from analogue to digital. Out of this about 50-60 per cent are expected to opt for DTH. We expect to capture about 30-35 per cent of that,” he held.

He said that the DTH operator was targeting customers across the spectrum and was not restricted to any specific target group.

The cable TV sector, which has been working on its channel packages, is unmoved by such offerings. “Cable TV subscribers will require Hindi GECs such as Star Plus, Zee TV, Sony and Colors. So there will be no impact on us. The 70 channels on free offering are very weak and consumers will not stay with Dish TV because of that. Moreover, since we have a lot of bandwidth, we can match these free channel offerings,” said the executive of a leading multi-system operator (MSO).

Dish TV‘s churn and other benefits

Dish TV will hope to arrest its churn to cable through this offering. “The switch-off due to non payment will not mean a total blackout of channels. He will get to watch the 70 channels under the new offering till he refills within the six-month period. But how effective this will be to arrest churn remains to be seen since the channels on offer are weak,” an industry observer said.

Dish TV will also get to report on its churn numbers for the new subscribers after a period of six months (from the 3 months that it currently does).

The new offering is also seen by some as an attempt by Dish TV to create a differentiator value. “For those who are choosing a DTH service provider, this will be seen as an incremental value offering. The dealers can make this a selling point to induce new customers. Only time will tell how effective a marketing ploy this will be,” said a media analyst at a broking firm.

MUMBAI: Vserv.mobi, a mobile ad network for app developers, publishers and advertisers, has appointed three senior executives to its global team.

Rohit Verma will join the company as VP – India and Middle East while Elliot Renton comes on board as GM Publisher Alliances- South East Asia. The company has hired Narayan Murthy Ivaturi as GM – Sales Strategy.

These appointments form an integral part of the company strategy to accelerate its growth across emerging markets, the company said.

Vserv.mobi co-founder and CEO Dippak Khurana said, “We have built critical mass over the last three years and our network has witnessed tremendous growth across all emerging markets as mobile becomes the ‘primary‘ screen for consumers. This growth ties in to our aggressive hiring strategy and corresponds with our goal of being the leader in emerging markets to meet the needs of publishers, developers and advertisers through our unique and differentiated mobile advertising proposition. We are confident that these eminent mobile industry mavens will bring an enormous amount of knowledge and experience to the company and will be instrumental in making us the #1 Ad Network across Emerging Markets.”

Verma has over 15 years of experience of building mobile products and driving business development in the telecom space. In his new role, he will focus on strengthening the Telecom and Media Partnerships at Vserv.
Prior to Vserv, Verma has worked with Times Mobile, Airtel and ACL Wireless.

Renton brings over 12 years of experience in the digital media and mobile space. He will lead strategic alliances with premium publishers across Southeast Asia at Vserv.

Prior to Vserv, Renton has also worked with Nokia, managing brand partnerships across the APAC mobile app ecosystem and has also held senior roles with Getty Images and Thomson Reuters in Asia.

Based in Singapore, Renton will report to Vserv VP- South East Vikas Gulati.

Ivaturi brings with him more than 10 years of experience and will be based at Mumbai in Versv.

Ivaturi dons a strategic planning role and will lead the rollout of Brand solutions for advertisers across categories, as they progress on their Mobile Marketing journey. Having started his career with stints in traditional and digital advertising agencies, he subsequently lead key roles at Yahoo and Tyroo Media. In his last role, he was with Times Internet, wherein he headed the company‘s sales strategy for its portfolio of 13 portals.

MUMBAI: Out of the total ad spend in India only one per cent goes towards mobile which makes it a Rs. 2.5 billion market. For mobile ad revenues to grow by 30-40 per cent some things need to happen.

Firstly mobile should be part of an integrated media plan. This means that mobile ad networks should approach advertisers and their agencies to explain how it can add legs to a campaign. Also advertisers who use mobile should focus on emerging consumer behaviour and not on emerging mobile technology.

These were some key points made at a session of IAMAI‘s Mobile Marketing Conference today. The speakers were Aircel AGM – New Services, VAS Digital Marketing & Mobile Advertising Anurag Sachdeva, InMobi Country GM Sandeep Deshpande, MadHouse COO Vinod Thadani, Nielsen MD Prashant Singh and Vserv.mobi MD, CEO Dippak Khurana.

Deshpande said that one big thing to note is that by the first quarter of next year accessing net from the mobile will be more than accessing it from a laptop or a PC. That will have huge implications on brand interaction. In that sense India will follow China and Japan. He noted that a lot of simultaneous usage of TV and mobile happens when people are at home. So if an advertiser spends money on TV for reach and then uses mobile as well it will give a multiplier effect.

Asked about the difference between a PC and mobile he noted that at work laptop is used while during a break or on a commute the mobile is used. “The mobile is not about creating content for users. It is about consuming content. So if a brand wants a consumer to fill out a long form it might be better off trying another medium. The user context is different. What one can do with a mobile is different from what one can do with a PC.”

For him another difference is that online ad technologies were developed by publishers themselves like Yahoo!, Google. But on the mobile, ad networks came in to develop ad technologies. “InMobi has played a key role in developing technologies for mobile advertisers.”

Sachdeva said that 30 million smartphones devices are in use. The figure will reach 150 million by 2015. There are 20 million credit card users and so the concept of the mobile wallet will grow. “One must remember that the mobile is a medium in itself and a connecting tissue. It can add legs to a marketing campaign. Mobile is not just about display advertising.”

Asked about the role mobile operators would have in mobile advertising going forward, he said operators in India would not become dumb pipes. “Users demonstrate intent on devices which an operator captures. The mobile wallet will play an important role especially if there is no other means of payment. Location-based services are becoming important. At the same time it is important to not confuse advertisers with technical jargon like smartphones.”

Thadani said that consumer is the king. He changes his behaviour and mobile advertisers and networks have to map his/her behaviour. “An integrated media plan is key rather than just thinking about the mobile. Mobile advertising shouldn‘t be sold on its own. Advertisers and mobile ad networks need to see how mobile can add incremental reach to a media plan. The mobile part of a media plan can be customised for different brands.” He notes that 30-40 per cent ad growth is possible if one understands the merits of a mobile device.

Singh says that there is diversity in users. “You have tablet users. There are smartphone users which increases app usage. There are also rich feature phones. After that you have basic phones. At all levels the mobile phone is the most prized gadget. Brands that target SEC A can target smartphone users. The price drop for a smartphone will change the market three years from now.”

At the same time one needs to know what the consumer is doing. Metrics are needed in the mobile space. TV for instance has TRPs, GRPs. This is a short term challenge for the mobile. He also said that the targeting option for advertisers could be a device and then overlay that with content that apps use. Brand advertising is growing. Consumers can be engaged with rich media. An effective metric is cost per engaged user. How many people clicked, how many people went beyond a click and engaged with an ad can be seen.

Khurana said that there is a need to understand how mobile consumption is happening, “Marketers need to embrace the telecom ecosystem. The gap between telecom and media should be bridged. In India there are 12,000 mobile devices that browse the Internet. “A mobile phone allows you to browse. This is a user‘s most important gadget. It is important for advertisers to not worry about new operating systems coming in. It is more important to focus on innovative ways to reach consumers.”

Mumbai: As a tribute to the “Shahenshah” of Bollywood, Techzone, has developed a new ‘BigB app‘ and a WAP page for the fans of Amitabh Bachchan.

Techzone are developers, publishers and distributors of entertainment content.

The ‘BigB app‘ will allow customers to browse and download content by giving access to top 100 songs from Universal music, Filmography (list of his 200 odd movies with release dates and other information) and a quiz on him.

This app is supported on IOS 4.3 to IOS 6. Users can also get the content on a regular phone by sending a text message, SMS BIGB to 56060 for all the content available on the appThe app also features integration with the official Big B Twitter pages where fans can View Big B tweets and get an insight on his life. The launch of the Big B application is on his birthday, 11 October. This app enables his fans to wish him directly.
 
Techzone director Naveen Bhandari said, “Looking at the ever increasing love for celebrities, we decided to start building apps specifically dedicated to celebrities and who better to start with than Mr. Bachchan! His fan base is spread across the world and we are expecting to start with more than 2000+ downloads, with the number increasing constantly!”

The BigB App is for $2.99.

Apart from the Big B app, Techzone is also working towards creating newer apps for categories like entertainment, music, news, lifestyle, city guide in its all new Development Centre in Bangalore.

MUMBAI: Leading cricket portal ESPNcricinfo has said it has posted its best-ever audiences for the Twenty20 format of the game during the recently concluded ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. T20 cricket Fans logged more than 800 million page views and spent total of 2.3 billion minutes on the website through all devices and platforms.

India contributed more audience to ESPNcricinfo than any other territory globally, with more than 35 per cent of all total global page views and more than 32 per cent of global total minutes coming from fans in this country. It also contributed the greatest total mobile web usage, logging more than 183 million total page views so far in the tournament and almost 324 million total minutes of time spent via mobile devices.

Additionally, throughout the tournament, ESPNcricinfo said it had an average minute audience of almost 80,000 people across computers, mobile web, and mobile apps – meaning that during any given minute of the 18-day tournament, an average of 80,000 people were engaging with ESPNcricinfo. The average minute audience is four times greater than the 2010 tournament.

Fans also watched 164,000 videos on average per day on ESPNcricinfo during the tournament not counting streaming video which is available in some regions.

The portal said the most dynamic growth in audience and engagement for ESPNcricinfo since the 2010 tournament has come on mobile devices. Globally, the brand saw 678 per cent growth in total page views (to more than 445 million) and a staggering 981 per cent growth in total minutes (to nearly 855 million minutes) via mobile devices, compared to the tournament two years ago.

Across all platforms – online, mobile web, apps and tablets – ESPNcricinfo posted its best day of the tournament on the final day of the Super 8s stage registering 266 million minutes and 101 million page views.

The tournament has also marked a milestone for ESPNcricinfo and ESPN3 in the US, helping expand access to, and exposure for, cricket in the country. US-based cricket fans constituted ESPNcricinfo‘s second-biggest audience globally for the tournament (trailing only India), with nearly 17 per cent of global page views and nearly 19 p er cent of all minutes spent during the tournament – across all devices – coming from the US. US-based fans also accessed more videos per day on average (71,171) than any other territory worldwide.

Meanwhile, UK-based cricket fans engaged more via ESPNcricinfo‘s mobile apps than fans in any country globally. During the tournament so far, more than one-fifth (21%) of the 8.1 million minutes spent daily (on average) with ESPNcricinfo‘s mobile apps came from the UK.

ESPN International vice president, digital media Arne Rees said, “We‘re thrilled fans from around the globe chose ESPNcricinfo as their go-to across all platforms to follow the World Twenty20 Championship. We‘re proud to be serving a growing audience of US cricket fans while continuing our leadership in delivering for fans across the Indian subcontinent, the UK, Australia, South Africa, the Caribbean and around the rest of the world. ESPNcricinfo prepared for one of its most comprehensive tournament packages to date around the World Twenty20 Championship and fans have clearly appreciated that content and connected to it through the devices they use every day.”

MUMBAI: Wipro Technologies, the global information technology, consulting and outsourcing business of Wipro, has launched Wipro Accelerate, a prepaid broadband solution that enables cable system operators to reduce or eliminate cost and credit obstacles, and expand broadband services to unserved or underserved markets in the United States.

An end-to-end service, Wipro Accelerate will enable operators to deploy prepaid packages without incurring heavy capital and operational expenses towards new billing or product-support platform development, and facilitate a positive return on investment for cable operators, even at low price points, Wipro said.

Wipro Accelerate seamlessly allows the cost-effective launch of prepaid packages that can increase market penetration and address regulatory issues, including the Federal Communications Commission‘s “Connect to Compete” program.

Using the cloud-based hosted solution, operators can offer products that are specifically designed to meet the needs of prepaid subscribers, and also avoid cannibalising existing broadband deployment.

“The new challenge for the cable industry has been to drive penetration to the 30 per cent of households that are yet to adopt broadband,” said Wipro‘s Global Media and Telecommunications Strategic Business Unit Stephen Snyder Global Head Business Innovation.

“Wipro Accelerate uses industry-leading expertise, field-proven solutions along with a competitive pricing model to enable operators to expand the addressable market.”

“At a time when broadband is seeing migration to usage-based models, prepaid packages offer the industry new opportunities to study customer behavior and attitudes, and create packages that are aligned to specific needs,” said Snyder.

“In addition to opening up new market segments, we believe Wipro Accelerate can provide a unique platform for experimentation regarding broadband pricing and packaging, as well as a vehicle for educating subscribers regarding the cost-per-Megabyte of broadband service.”

MUMBAI: SES has said that it has selected Boeing to build a new communication satellite, SES-9, to serve the fast growing markets in Asia.

The new satellite ordered through SES‘ affiliate company SES Satellite Leasing will expand SES‘ capabilities to provide direct-to-home broadcasting and other communications services in Northeast Asia, South Asia and Indonesia, as well as maritime communications for vessels in the Indian Ocean.

The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The spacecraft will be positioned at the orbital slot of 108.2 degrees East and provide incremental as well as replacement capacity to this well established SES slot over Asia, where it will be co-located with the existing SES-7 and NSS-11 satellites.

SES-9 will be built in Boeing‘s El Segundo Satellite Development Center based on the Boeing 702HP platform. The satellite is designed to operate for 15 years in geosynchronous orbit with a 12.7-kilowatt payload and 57 high-power Ku-band transponders (equivalent to 81 x 36 MHz transponders). The spacecraft will carry a xenon ion propulsion system (XIPS) for all on-orbit maneuvering and a chemical bi-propellant system for initial orbit raising.

Boeing has a 25-year relationship with SES. SES-9 is the 11th spacecraft that SES has ordered from Boeing and the contract includes an option for an additional satellite.

SES president and CEO Romain Bausch said, “We look forward to work again with Boeing on an important addition to our global fleet: SES-9 will greatly expand our transmission capacity over Asia, while adding increased flexibility and redundancy to a strategic orbital slot. SES is convinced that Boeing‘s 702HP will prove to be mission-critical in order to provide state-of-the-art, high-power satellite capacity to the thriving markets of Asia.”

“We are pleased to be selected by SES to build a highly flexible 702HP satellite, which has a uniquely configured XIPS propulsion system and chemical bi-propellant system, reducing the spacecraft‘s launch weight while allowing for maximum payload capacity. Boeing has continuously evolved the 702 design since it was introduced over 15 years ago, allowing us to provide SES a satellite that will be consistent with their business requirements,” said Boeing Satellite Systems International CEO and Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems VP and GM Craig Cooning.

MUMBAI: Havas Media Asia Pacific has appointed Gaetano Squillante as head of digital strategy for the region.

Squillante will be based out of Singapore and his responsibilities include leading the digital practices and platform led solutions for Havas Media in Asia Pacific. He has several years of experience in the digital marketing industry, having worked with well known agencies and brands.

Prior to joining Havas Media, Squillante was at Adidas as global head of social and digital media, and was responsible for building global digital ecosystem and platforms through partnerships and developing the brand‘s global social media strategy. He was actively involved in the brand‘s 2010 World Cup campaign and has driven the development of the global social media team.

Havas Media APAC head of strategy SK Biswas said, “Gaetano is a very welcome addition to the regional strategy team. He brings in unique skill set of understanding not just the digital ecosystem but also what really delivers for a brand. He is a cool head and brings in “walk-the-talk” philosophy and approach.”

Squillante started his career with Havas Digital (Media Contacts) London office. Prior to working with adidas he was with OMD Digital as an account director and MEC as Director of Integration. Outside adidas, he has worked on Vodafone, Sony Ericsson, Microsoft, Peugeot, Intel and Accenture.