Category: Software

MUMBAI: ESPN Software India, the sports broadcaster, on Friday said it has obtained an injunction from the Delhi High Court against cable operators, hotels and websites illegally carrying the signals of the oncoing ICC World Twenty20 tournament in Sri Lanka.

ESPN, in a statement, said the high court has restrained all cable operators, hotels and internet websites from unauthorisedly showing the cricket tournament in any manner.

The high court passed the restraining order after the sports broadcaster filed a suit claiming that it has just cause for apprehension that the defendants, approximately 34 named cable operators, hotels and Internet websites, may take unauthorised connections and may unauthorisedly access signals of the cricket tournament without taking a licence from the company.

The high court has also restrained unnamed entities who may be found to be indulging in signal piracy. The police authorities concerned have been directed to render all assistance to ESPN to enforce the order of injunction, the company said.

After this order anyone showing the broadcast of ICC World Twenty20 through any unauthorized means or on any other channel is liable to be held in contempt of court and can be prosecuted, ESPN said.

The court has also permitted ESPN to take action against “unnamed” entities not party to the suit but are found to be unauthorisedly utilising the feed of ESPN, Star Cricket HD and Star Cricket without license, the statement added.

Speaking on the occasion, ESPN Software India Vice President-Affiliate Sales T S Panesar said, “We welcome the order. This order will help us in curbing any unauthorized telecast of our channels. We already have a team across the country who is trying to ensure that piracy does not happen and in case we spot any, we will bring the guilty to the book.”

All the 27 matches of the championship are being shown live by ESS on its channels Star Cricket and Star Cricket HD with English commentary. The broadcaster is also doing a simulcast of all India matches, semi-finals and the final of the championship with Hindi commentary on ESPN channel.

PANAJI: Coinciding with the first phase of digitisation, the fifth annual India Digital Operators Summit, a joint initiative of Indiantelevision.com Group and Media Partners Asia, is all set to begin on 21 September to debate and discuss digital TV opportunity in India.

The two-day event will be held in The Lalit Golf & Spa Resort in Goa with the theme of ‘The Digital Dawn‘. IDOS 2012 aims to highlight the pertinent issues faced by the industry and give useful insights into how other key Asian markets have succeeded in their digital transitions.

Participants include leaders from the regulatory, cable distribution, DTH, broadcast, TV distribution and technology segments along with content providers and investors of the broadcasting and pay-TV industries.

“The Indian broadcasting industry is on the cusp of change with digitisation round the corner. Digitisation is expected to unlock value for all the constituents in the ecosystem be it multi-system operators, local cable operators, and broadcasters, which in turn will have an impact on DTH platforms and consumers,” says Indiantelevision.com Founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief Anil Wanvari.

“India Digital Operators Summit (IDOS) is coming at an opportune time when the entire industry is readying for the first phase of digitisation,” he adds.

The event will begin with Wanvari sharing the vision behind organising this event, followed by a presentation by Vivek Couto on India‘s digital TV ecosystem and lessons from other global emerging markets.

In the ‘Taking Stock, Forging Future‘ session, the key theme will be the role of the regulator in the emerging digital TV industry which will have Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) principal advisor N Parameswaran sharing his perspective. This will be followed by a Q&A session with Parameswaran chaired by Wanvari and Couto.

In the ‘First & Future Steps on the Digital Highway‘ session, leaders across key stakeholders will share visions and insights into the key challenges that will shape the first year of digitalisation, as well as evaluate the future opportunities for key industry segments, from full addressability and the growth of digital pay TV.

The session will be moderated by BBC World News Presenter & Correspondent Yogita Limaye. The panelists include Den Network CEO S N Sharma, IBM India/South Asia Head, Media & Entertainment Raman Kalra, Ortel Communications Co-Founder & MD Jagi Mangat Panda, Multi Screen Media CEO Man Jit Singh, and Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera.

‘A Digital Ecosystem‘ will seek answer for the question Where does the industry need to move in terms of differentiated content, technology and financing to make digitalization truly the next big consumer transformation play for Indian media? The moderator for the session will be Anil Wanvari & Vivek Couto. The panelists include Digicable Network India MD & CEO Jagjit Singh Kohli, IDFC Securities MD and Head of Research Nikhil Vora, JainHits MD Ankur Jain, NDS Asia Pacific Senior Director – Business Development Ajmair Heer, SES Senior VP, Commercial, Asia-Pacific and Middle East Deepak Mathur, Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera.
The session ‘Re-Calibrating Value‘ will analyse the long-term strategies operators need to adopt that will deliver value to the consumer and true ROI for operators. To be moderated by NDTV Head-Affiliate Sales & Network Distribution Rahul Sood with Den Network CEO S N Sharma, Hinduja Ventures President Tony D‘Silva, India Cast Media Distribution Group CEO Anuj Gandhi, Media Network & Distribution India MD & CEO Yogesh Radhakrishnan, Media Pro Enterprise COO Gurjeev Singh Kapoor, and Videocon d2h Deputy CEO Rohit Jain.

The session will be followed by a case-study on a cable operator‘s life with Anil Dattatray Parab, Advisor, Cable Operators and Distributors Association as the speaker. The case-study will be followed by a roundtable chaired by Anil Wanvari and Vivek Couto comprising panelists from all the sessions and also other industry.

On the second day, the first session ‘Taking Advantage of the Digital Ecosystem‘ will seek to answer questions as to How does a cable/satellite operator benefit across the various segments of the digital ecosystem, from set-top boxes, CAS and middleware to billing, SMS, advertising solutions, addressable software and next-generation home gateways?

The session will be moderated by Castle Media Director Vynsley Fernandes and will have Chrome Data Analytics & Media Founder & CEO Pankaj Krishna, Dolby Laboratories, India Country Manager Pankaj Kedia, JainHits MD Ankur Jain, and NDS India Country Head & GM-India Jayant Changrani.

With the government upping the FDI limit in digital cable and DTH companies, the session ‘Markets for Media: Value, Volatility and the Capital Equation‘ will analyse whether the government decision will open up the floodgates to foreign investment in these capital intensive sectors. Panelists include Exponentia Capital principal Neeraj Bhatia, Hathway Cable & Datacom G Subramaniam, NDTV Head-Affiliate Sales & Network Distribution Rahul Sood, and Saban Capital Group Director, Private Equity Sumeet Jaisinghani.

The last session of the event ‘Getting Aggressive to Get Customers‘ will decipher how can cable operators build on the aggressive sales and marketing strategy implemented successfully by MSOs and DTH operators to gain customers.

The session will be followed by a roundtable chaired by Anil Wanvari and Vivek Couto and will comprise panelists from all the sessions.

IDOS 2012 is powered by Star India, while the summit partners include Discovery Channel, Dolby, JainHits, NDS, SES, and Videocon d2h. The associate partners are BBC World News, Den Network and Media Pro. IBM is the knowledge partner.

New Delhi: Television set-top boxes (STBs), electronic video games, laptops/notebooks/tablets, plasma/LCD/LED television sets and electronic musical systems are among the fifteen items that have been brought under a scheme for mandatory regime of registration.

This has been done under the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirements for Compulsory Registration) Order 2012 issued by the Departments of Electronics and Information Technology so that these products meet specified safety standards.

The order will come into effect after six months of its publication in the official gazette. The said order has been issued under the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Rules and Act.

The fifteen items include Electronic Games (Video); Laptop/Notebook/Tablets, Plasma /LCD /LED Televisions of screen size 32″ & above; Optical Disc Players with built in amplifiers of input power 200W and above; Visual Display Units, Video Monitors of screen size 32″ & above; Amplifiers with input power 2000W and above; Electronic Musical Systems with input power 200W and above; and Set Top Boxes.

In each case, an Indian Standard Number has been generated and the Title of Indian Standard has been specified.

As against licensing, the scheme provides for self-registration of specified electronic goods. The scheme provides that no person shall by himself or through any person on his behalf manufacture or store for sale, import, sell or distribute specified electronic goods which do not conform to the specified standard and do not bear the words “Self declaration – Conforming to IS (Relevant Indian Standard mentioned in column (3) of the Schedule) on such Goods after obtaining Registration from the BIS. Substandard or defective Goods which do not conform to the specified standard will be deformed beyond use by the manufacturer and disposed off as scrap. However, the order does not apply to electronic goods meant for export.

The scheme also provides that the electronic goods having different sizes, ratings, varieties etc, such goods shall be grouped and may be granted series approval for a Series of Products based on testing of representative models. The Department will approve such series of products. This will obviate the need for every single model of the same series to be registered.

The scheme also provides for the Department and the BIS to randomly select samples of registered electronic goods to ascertain whether these goods conform to the Specified Standard. The electronic goods have to be tested by BIS-approved testing laboratories. STQC has already initiated steps to get approval of its laboratories by BIS.

MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch-controlled News Corp has the option of increasing its shareholding in direct-to-home (DTH) services provider Tata Sky to 50 per cent from the current effective stake of 29.8 per cent. Tata group holding firm Tata Sons holds a majority stake in Tata Sky.

News Corp has a shareholder agreement which gives it the option to become an equal partner. Tata Sons owns 60 per cent stake in the company while the remaining 10 per cent is with Singapore-based private equity firm Temasek.

News Corp, however, will not be able to benefit from the recent hike in the FDI cap to 74 per cent in the broadcast-carriage services sector. The company, which runs a broadcasting business in India through its subsidiary Star, is handicapped by a cross-media regulation.

According to Indian government regulations, any entity having more than 20 per cent equity participation in a broadcasting company cannot have more than 20 per cent equity in a distributor (MSO/Cable, DTH, HITS, Mobile TV) and vice- versa.

“We have the option to become an equal joint venture partner in Tata Sky. But there is a cross-media regulation in India,” Shankar tells Indiantelevision.com.

Is this regulation unfair? “Yes, it is. The government has mandated digitisation in the country (by 31 December 2014) and there will be a huge funding requirement that will not be available locally. The recent decision to up the ceiling on foreign direct investment to 74 per cent is a positive step. But for global strategic investors to come in, it is necessary to do away with cross-media restrictions. And if strategic investors don‘t come in, then financial investors will not find it that attractive. In any case, the cross-media restriction has been violated by at least three players having broadcast interests. It has only discouraged clean, legitimate players,” says Shankar.

In 2010, Star India had applied for FIPB (foreign investment promotion board) clearance to buy a 49 per cent stake in Tata Group‘s investment firm TS Investments, which would hold a 20 per cent stake in Tata Sky for Rs 3.24 billion.

Effectively, this gives Star an additional 9.8 per cent stake in Tata Sky, increasing News Corp‘s total holding in the DTH company to 29.8 per cent.

Star‘s FIPB application followed the government‘s amendment in 2009 to the FDI policy that stated that investment through companies owned and controlled by Indians would not count as foreign investments.

Tata Sky, which commenced operations in 2006, is one of the leading DTH companies in India and is ahead of the others in terms of ARPUs (average revenue per user). The profitability of the sector is affected by low ARPUs. Dish TV, India‘s largest DTH company by subscribers, ended fiscal-first quarter with an average ARPU of Rs 156 while Airtel digital TV‘s was at Rs 166.

Mumbai: Hungama Digital Media Entertainment has launched Lalbaugcha Raja – application / IVR services and WAP services to bring the experience of viewing live the aarti of the most famous Ganesh celebration in Mumbai.

Patrons can access live proceedings of the puja anytime, anywhere on their mobile handsets.

The application also provides interesting facts about Lalbaugcha Raja in the ‘about‘ section. This is currently available on Android and will be subsequently available on the iOS platform.
 
Hungama has also developed a WAP site through which one can watch live feeds. Devotees can download aartis, wallpapers, animated images of this year‘s idol. The service is available for all leading mobile subscribers on the Re 1 store.

Users can also listen to live Aarti, Shloka, Chalisa and Bhajans through IVR by dialing 54646, a dedicated dial-in number available for all leading telecommunication services.

MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Channels has launched BBC Entertainment in Malaysia on Telekom Malaysia‘s IPTV platform, Hypp TV. The channel joins BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle and CBeebies, which have been on the platform since the introduction of Hypp TV in 2009.

Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) is Malaysia‘s leading integrated information and communications group, offering a comprehensive range of communication services and solutions in broadband, data and fixed-line.

“We are excited that four of our branded channels encapsulating the quality, breadth and depth of our programming, are now available to TM Net‘s Hypp TV subscribers,” said BBC Worldwide Channels Asia GM and SVP Mark Whitehead.

“Malaysia is an important market for BBC Worldwide and our latest partnership with TM Net for BBC Entertainment builds on our commitment to bring great quality programming to more viewers in Asia.”

Said TM Consumer EVP Jeremy Kung said, “BBC Worldwide‘s channels enjoy wide acclaim worldwide. We are happy to add BBC Entertainment to our offerings to our viewers. We are confident that BBC Entertainment‘s high quality programming will be welcomed by our viewers.”

BBC Entertainment showcases the very best of comedy, drama and light entertainment from the BBC and other UK production houses. On Hypp TV, the channel is available on channel 161.

In Asia, besides Malaysia, BBC Entertainment is also available in Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and India.

MUMBAI: Global mobile ad network Vserv.mobi has entered into an alliance with Sony Music Entertainment India to serve premium ads on the newly launched Coke Studio app. Powered by the company‘s flagship product, AppWrapper, this partnership will allow advertisers to reach out to key mobile consumers through high impact, full screen ads. The Coke Studio App is available on the Android Play Store.

AppWrapper technology supports varied ad formats that include video, interactive HTML5 and other Rich Media formats, to deliver impact and engagement with the brand message. The advertising enabled by the Vserv.mobi AppWrapper delivers full screen ads that are unmissable, uncluttered and yet delivered at performance pricing.

Vserv.mobi head – global marketing Binay Tiwari said, “As mobile becomes the primary screen for consumers, premium content will have to make the transition as well. Driven by the game changing potential of our AppWrapper, we are confident that we will be able help content owners & publishers make this transition quickly. We are pleased to partner with Sony Music in bringing the iconic Coke Studio music experience to consumers on Mobile. Brand advertisers will embrace this powerful union of premium content with impactful ads, which allows reaching the user everyday & everywhere.”

Ignitee Digital Services Ignitee Digital Services chief operating officer Ranjoy Dey said “With premium content like Coke Studio coming to mobile, our brands are now more eager than ever, to make mobile an integral part of their media mix! Maruti Suzuki has already signed up ‘Ritz‘ – its brand targeted towards young couples, for the Coke Studio property on Vserv.mobi network. The property is unique from a perspective that it delivers powerful impact, emotion & engagement of TV, while offering the reach & cost efficiency of the mobile media”

Sanujeet Bhujabal, Marketing Director, Sony Music Entertainment India added, “The launch of the Coke Studio app bears testimony to the growing attractiveness of the mobile medium. We believe that our alliance with Vserv.mobi will give us a chance to provide premium mobile content to millions of mobile consumers and grow our mobile revenue stream.”
 
The partnership will soon extend to other premium apps and content properties of Sony Music. Powered by the AppWrapper for monetization, it will allow premium advertising across various genres.

Launched by Sony Music, Coke Studio is a musical platform where celebrated as well as promising artists across genres collaborate, taking viewers through a captivating, melodic journey. In its second season now, the show recently launched its mobile app to make it a more personal on the go experience for music aficionados. Vserv.mobi‘s partnership with Coke Studio brings this app to users for free, powered by AppWrapper premium advertising. Ads are shown only at the start and exit, in an impactful Full Screen format thereby delivering the best user experience.

New Delhi: Cable TV consumers will be able to choose the 100 television channels as part of the basic service tier of free-to-air (FTA) channels only from those available with their multi-system operators (MSOs).

This was stated by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) senior counsel Meet Malhotra while making arguments against petitions challenging the regulator‘s Tariff Order, allaying fears of MSOs and local cables operators that they will have to make available any and every channel demanded by their consumers.

Malhotra said the Tariff Order allowed the consumer a choice of opting for any 100 FTA channels from the network of the MSO ‘in lieu‘ of the 100-channel package offered by the MSO.

But it was wrong to argue that the MSO would have to approach any broadcaster for any additional channel because a single consumer has demanded it.

He, however, agreed with MSO and LCO counsels C S Vaidyanathan and Naveen Chawla that the statement ‘carried over the cable network of the operator‘ only appeared in the explanatory memorandum and not in the main Tariff Order. This had caused confusion among MSOs and LCOs that they might be forced to make available every FTA channel demanded by their consumers.

Trai had issued the Tariff Order on 30 April for digital addressable systems.

Malhotra said there were more than 200 FTA channels available in India and the consumer had been given a choice to opt for any 100 from amongst those available with his MSO. If a particular channel was not part of the MSOs network, then the consumer would have the right to demand it. The consumer will have to choose the FTA channels from among the ones the MSO carried.

Furthermore, the Trai counsel said as all FTA channels were similarly priced, taking one or another FTA channel will not result in any loss to the MSO or local cable operators.

Genres fixed under Cable Act and Tariff Order

However, he said that the Tariff Order in compliance with the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Second Amendment Act of December last year had laid down some criteria with regard to the genres. Five channels each in seven genres had to be provided – news and current affairs, infotainment, sports, music, lifestyle, movies, and general entertainment channels — in Hindi, English and the regional language of the concerned region. He said this worked out to 50 channels. In addition, there were around fifteen channels of Prasar Bharati, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. The bouquet of FTA has been increased to 100 in DAS from 30 in conditional access system.

Thus the viewer still had enough choice to choose other channels of his liking. He said there was a ninth genre – religion – but TRAI had chosen not to link that to the Tariff Order. The broadcaster would have to declare which genre his channel fell into, Malhotra added.

Revenue share subject to negotiations

As far as the revenue sharing between the MSO and the LCO was concerned, TRAI had said this was a matter of negotiation and the ratio of 55:45 for the BST of Rs 100 had only been fixed as maximum tariff in case negotiations broke down. He also said that the rationale for this was very simple. Under the conditional access system, the ratio had been 45:30:25 between the broadcaster, MSO, and LCO. Since the broadcaster had no role to play under DAS for FTA channels, his share had been evenly given to the other two and so the sharing had been fixed at 55:45 since the work of downloading, encrypting and re-transmitting the channels would be that of the MSOs.

He said that no maximum retail price had been fixed in view of lessons learnt from CAS, and even the revenue share was by default – that is, in case the parties could not come to a mutual settlement.

MSOs not giving retail prices for channels

Malhotra complained that MSOs were refusing to give the retail rates per channel. He said that TRAI had sent several letters individually to the MSOs in this regard, and wondered why these rates were not being notified.

Capacity Increase Clause

He said that in a scenario where just around 460 channels were being seen, it was erroneous to assume that the MSOs would have to show 500. The Tariff Order had only said that they had to increase their capacity to receive 500.

DTH vs DAS

He said Direct-To-Home platforms had a capacity constraint as they were on the limited Ku band. DAS has no such capacity constraint allowing more channels to be accommodated. He also said DTH is only a one-way system between the platform and the consumer and no MSOs or LCOs are involved as intermediaries. DTH also had to pay Rs 50 million per transponder apart from licence fee, and hence, there was no BST or ‘must carry‘ clause.

Rationale for abolishing Placement Fee

He reiterated that the placement fee had been done away with because the march of technology had made it unnecessary. Channels need not pay money to be placed at a certain band, since all channels were equally placed under DAS. ‘Preferential reason was the reason for placement fee‘, he added.

Carriage Fee clause to lead to fair competition

As far as the carriage fee was concerned, TRAI had only laid down that there should be reasonable carriage fee and it should be informed of the rate fixed.

Transparency will reduce dependence on carriage fee since the actual number of subscribers and households will be known under DAS. The regulation for no carriage fee in case an MSO approaches a broadcaster for a channel was based on common sense, but he said the aim was free and fair competition.

Malhotra is expected to conclude his arguments tomorrow, when the interveners NDTV and others will put their points before the counter-arguments on behalf of the appellant MSOs and LCOs begins.

MUMBAI: The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has revealed that 68 per cent of Cable TV Digitisation has already been achieved in the four metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Only six weeks are now left for the complete switch over from analogue to digital delivery of television channels in the four metros for the first phase of digitisation.

City wise data shows that Mumbai leads the progress in digitisation with 95 per cent homes digitised followed by Kolkata with 67 per cent. In Delhi, 53 per cent of the cable homes have switched to digital and in Chennai, 49 per cent.

Taking into consideration that the TV penetration is about 80 per cent on an average in four metro cities, and there are 2.55 million DTH subscribers and 4.67 million Set Top Boxes have already been installed, the percentage of digitization in four metros is 68 per cent. This includes 20 per cent provision for multiple TVs in homes and TVs in offices, the MIB said in a statement.

The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Act 2011 has made it mandatory for switch over of the existing Analogue Cable Television Network to Digital Addressable System (DAS) by December 2014 in the entire country in four phases. In the first phase, four metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai have to switch to digital cable by 31 October.

MIB said it has been constantly reviewing the preparedness of the industry for the Digital switch over. Installation of Set Top Boxes in Cable TV Homes is one of the most crucial pre-conditions for the Digital Switch over.

The review of the data has been done by taking into consideration the Census data of 2011 with respect to total households, TV penetration, households having television sets. The data has been further corroborated with the data received from the Multi System Operators and DTH operators.

According to 2011 census, there are 10.37 million households in four metro cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata & Chennai. TV penetration in four metros is 80 per cent as per census.

The I&B Ministry has also launched a publicity campaign in electronic and print media to take awareness to the doorsteps of people.

MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council on Tuesday launched first ever official ICC Cricket App in partnership with Reliance Communications to coincide with the start of the ICC World Twenty20 2012.

The App, which is free to download, will be available on iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Nokia smartphones from the official App Stores and mobile operator App stores.

It features video match highlights from both the men‘s and women‘s events, along with live audio commentary. There will also be free behind the scenes exclusive videos from the event produced by IMG Media in Singapore and footage from every post-match press conference.

Cricket fans will also be able to use the App to vote in live polls provided by Pulse which take place during matches and throughout the duration of the tournament. The results of these polls will be broadcast live on the global broadcast feed and users must access the App to influence the voting.

The official ICC Cricket App also includes access to the innovative virtual graphics for all broadcast ICC World Twenty20 2012 matches, allowing fans to analyse every single aspect of the players and team performances.

In addition, the App will contain all the scores, statistics and insider news from the tournament, as well as profiles on the 20 (12 men and eight women) competing teams and players.

ICC General Manager – Commercial Campbell Jamieson said, “We believe that offering an official ICC Cricket App will provide the ICC with another invaluable platform to engage with our fan base and provide them with a new way to follow ICC events. Through the live voting feature provided exclusively on the App, fans will get an opportunity to share their views with a global broadcast audience.”

Once the ICC World Twenty20 finishes, the ICC Cricket App will let fans relive some of their favourite moments of the event, watch regular video features from the ICC Cricket 360 show, and keep up to date with the latest cricketing news.

The ICC Cricket smartphone App was developed and produced through a partnership between the ICC, IMG Media and Moshen, a digital media and entertainment company based in Lancaster, England.