Category: Software

MUMBAI: Sahara Group is acquiring a majority stake in Digicable Network (India) that will mark the Lucknow-based financial services-to-real estate-to-media conglomerate‘s entry into the cable TV business ahead of the government‘s digitisation mandate.

Ashmore will exit from Digicable after investing in the company in 2007. The UK-based global private equity fund held equal stake of 49 per cent in Digicable and Broadband Pacenet, both promoted by Jagjit Kohli and Yogesh Shah.

Digicable was 51 per cent owned by Broadband Pacenet, the Mumbai-based broadband services provider, and 49 per cent by Ashmore. This in effect gave Ashmore around 74 per cent stake in Digicable, the multi-system operator (MSO) with a pan India footprint.

Highly placed sources have confirmed the deal to Indiantelevision.com.

The transaction will be a two-way process. Steller Interactive Media Pvt Ltd, the parent company through which Kohli and Shah hold their stakes in Digicable and Broadband Pacenet, will first buyout Ashmore with the support of Sahara. Steller Interactive Media, after taking full ownership of Digicable and Ashmore, will then sell majority stake to Sahara.

Post transaction, Sahara is likely to hold 74 per cent stake in both the companies while the remaining will be with Kohli and Shah, sources said.

Sources could not confirm the exact amount Ashmore took home to exit from its cable and broadband investments in India. The private equity firm had poured in around $240 million into the company and was looking to exit from its sour investments.

Sahara had shown nascent interest in cable and IPTV business years back but did not venture into it due to the revenue leakages from the last mile that was owned by the local cable operators. The analogue cable market was also highly fragmented. Sahara’s interest now stems from the mandate to the cable TV industry to switch over nationally from analogue to digital by December 2014, beginning with the four metros over the next three months.

Sahara Group also owns a broadcasting business. Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd operates in the motion pictures and Television arena. The company runs three channels – Sahara One, Filmy and Firangi.
Digicable was started in 2007 by Kohli, along with his business partner Yogesh Shah, soon after he quit Zee Group‘s Wire & Wireless India Ltd (WWIL). He had then roped in Ashmore to invest in the business.

Also read:

UK private equity firm Ashmore takes 49% in Jagjit Kohli‘s new cable venture

MUMBAI: According to the Mobile Internet behavior and usage study conducted by ViziSense, 20 million of the estimated 48 million mobile internet users have cut their newspapers and TV consumption by 50 per cent.

ViziSense is an Indian online audience and ad measurement platform.

The study reveals that on the mobile screen what‘s being consumed is – entertainment, all categories of news, travel and sports content. Of all mobile internet users in India (estimated at 48 million by IAMAI in their August 2011 Mobile Internet in India report), 87 per cent are online on mobile every day. Almost half of these users go online through their cellphones every 2-3 hours and the duration of these visits is more than an hour. Almost 60 per cent of these users have been on this medium for over a year already.

This study has been put together through the results of an online survey conducted with ViziSense India online panelists (Internet users with mobile phones) and has recorded responses from 2,024 users who access Internet through their cellphones, the company said.

With access to email (99 per cent) and social media (95 per cent) being the primary drivers of mobile internet, consumption of content is starting to shift in favour of the two new screens – Mobiles and Tablets and the categories which see frequent or daily consumption include news, games and entertainment, travel, education and search (almost 50 per cent mobile internet users access this content through their cellphones v/s. other categories).

These users are also easing into mobile ecommerce with almost 80 per cent of the users having performed some form of financial transaction through their mobile phone – payment of utility bills, purchase of products, services and 28 per cent of mobile internet users have even used ‘mobile money‘.

The study reveals that the penetration of tablets and its rising demand is keeping the entire IT industry and media industry excited. The survey also revealed that 14 per cent of these users already possessed a tablet while another 60 per cent of the users plan to buy a tablet soon. (55 per cent of these aspirants hail from outside the top eight metros).

ViziSense VP and GM Amit Bhartiya said, “55 per cent of all daily mobile internet users hail from outside the top eight metros. Whilst limited access to branded products was the reason that these regions saw early adoption of ecommerce, errant electricity is one of the reasons why mobile internet is majorly scoring for users from these cities while reducing their dependence on TV as a medium for especially news and entertainment. The survey establishes two major trends- the shift in screens is for real and that English print is migrating to mobile phones through WAP sites and applications, especially around lifestyle, travel and sports content”.

The survey also tracked the usage by the 18 per cent women subset within this group of mobile internet users and revealed that women outscore men when it comes to accessing books or education, entertainment and travel-related content through their cellphones.

MUMBAI: Subhash Chandra-promoted Wire and Wireless (India) Limited (WWIL) has narrowed its fiscal-first quarter net loss due to a 10 per cent jump in carriage income and deployment of digital set-top boxes (STBs).

The multi-system operator (MSO) has mopped up revenue of Rs 240 million from sale of STBs in the quarter ended June 2012.

“We have deployed close to one million STBs so far. Our estimated target in the three metros of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, which fall under the first phase of digitisation, is 2.5 million STBs. This quarter has been good for us and we have got Rs 230-240 million from activation charges (of STBs),” says WWIL COO Anil Malhotra.

WWIL‘s carriage revenue in the quarter stands at Rs 600 million, adds Malhotra.

The MSO had in the the quarter announced that it would offer local cable operators (LCOs) a share in carriage income in DAS (Digital Adressable Systems) markets. The government has set 31 October as the sunset date for digitisation, extending it by four months from the earlier deadline.

WWIL reported net loss of Rs 47.7 million for the quarter, down from Rs 420 million a year ago.Operating profit has jumped to Rs 277.4 million, from Rs 42.8 million.

Operating revenue rose 39.8 per cent to Rs 1.12 billion. “This has been one of our best quarters,” says Malhotra. “We have extended the momentum gained during the last fiscal into the first quarter of FY13. We are confident that the significant positive momentum of the business will not only continue to drive WWIL’s growth for the remainder of the fiscal year, but also strengthen the company for growth in the years to come.”

Consolidated operating expenses rose 12.6 per cent to Rs 857.6 million for the quarter ended June. Major cost item was cost of goods and services which stood at 600.5 million during the quarter, representing 53 per cent of the total revenue in comparison to Rs 567.3 million in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal (71 per cent share of the total revenue).

How will WWIL strengthen its presence in Mumbai where it has lost ground over the years to the other MSOs? “We are reworking our plans for Mumbai. We will have some announcement to make,” says Malhotra.

WWIL‘s debt stands at Rs 4.50 billion. “Our funding is in place to take care of digitisation,” avers Malhotra.

MUMBAI: UK pay TV operator BSkyB‘s net profit rose 12 per cent to ?1.5 billion in the year ended 30 June 2012 on the back of a successful football season coupled with increase in subscriber numbers.

The satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company partly owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch has seen its revenue go up by 3 per cent to ?6.7 billion. Operating profit before exceptional items rose 14 per cent to ?1.22 billion.

The company said it added 312,000 customers during the financial year taking the total number of subscribers to 10.6 million. Sky Broadband, the company‘s internet service provider, has a customer base of 4 million.

The company reported a 12 percent increase in the number of subscriptions to individual products, including line rental and high-definition television.

BSkyB revealed that it will return another ?500 million to shareholders via a share buyback.

The broadcaster said it had renewed several important media rights agreements during the year including Premier League, Spanish football, British and Irish Lions Club rights.

It had also launched an internet streaming service, Now TV, its second service to complement Sky Go and protect its turf from Netflix.

“I think it has been a quarter and a year again where we‘ve been strong across the board, so our operational performance has once again been very strong. We‘ve seen good growth right across our range of products and services, but I think we‘ve combined that well with further improvements in our customers‘ experience,” said BSkyB Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch.

He also reflects on the impact that BSkyB has on the UK economy, “As a company, we‘re contributing something like ?5.5bn to UK GDP. We work directly with over 4,000 suppliers. We probably account for something of the order of 120,000 jobs in the UK and contribute over ?2bn of tax revenue. So I think our contribution is very, very strong.”

NEW DELHI: India‘s first internet radio platform www.Radiowalla.in will broadcast all the speeches live from Jantar Mantar as a service to the global Indian audience who are interested in the Anna Hazare led agitation against corruption in India.

Radiowalla.in is a platform that streams indigenously created linear radio stations across music and talk genres, is now embarking on a full fledged news/talk radio station launch. This live broadcast is one such initiative towards the launch of “Newswalla – Be curious”. Newswalla, alligned to the people.

One of the key participants in this agitation, Kiran Bedi has already started a live call in talk show on Radiowalla.in‘s Newswalla every Saturday from 9 pm receiving an overwhelming number of phone calls from all parts of India and the world.

All one has to do is to go to www.radiowalla.in and login using either your Facebook, twitter or Gmail account and follow the links to the Kiran Bedi show for the live broadcast from Jantar Mantar

Radiowalla.in is available on all broadband connected devices and soon Radiowalla.in will soon be available via mobile applications across platforms like iPhone/iPad, Android and other Java enabled feature phones and Blackberry devices.

NEW Delhi: Following requests from stakeholders, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has extended till 10 August the date for receiving comments on its paper on “Standards of Quality of Service for Mobile Data Services Regulations 2012”.

Citing the importance of the issue as a reason for the extension, Trai said the date for counter comments would be 17 August. Earlier, the last date was 25 July for comments and 1 August for counter comments.

The draft regulations had been drawn up in the absence of any quality of service for mobile data services at a time when service providers are rolling out 3G services and these services are presently available in all the service areas.

With the roll out of 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) services, the growth rate in cellular mobile telephone service is poised for higher growth, compared to wire line internet users.

Trai feels it is necessary to benchmark and monitor the quality of service offered by the service providers of mobile data services with various options open to the implementing agencies so that the interests of consumers are protected.

Trai has, therefore, decided to benchmark the quality of service parameters for mobile data services, so that the interests of consumers are protected. Accordingly, the draft regulations have been prepared.

MUMBAI: Pogo, India’s leading kids’ channel, and Jump Games, Reliance Entertainment Digital‘s mobile and web games developer and publisher, have extended the Chhota Bheem mobile game franchise with the launch of ‘Chhota Bheem: Mice Mayhem’.

The mobile game, which has been developed for multiple mobile platforms like Java and Blackberry, will be available for download on the apps stores and WAP sites of all major telecom providers like Vodafone, Idea, Tata Docomo and Reliance for a charge of up to Rs 50 per download.

While elaborating on extending the Chhota Bheem mobile game franchise, Jump Games business head India Chaitanya Prabhu said: “Chhota Bheem is one of the most popular mobile game characters among kids in India. Each game in the series has witnessed high downloads on various platforms, which highlights the popularity of the game and the demand from mobile gamers to extend the Chhota Bheem storyline. The latest game – Mice Mayhem – will engage mobile gamers with its high quality visuals and game play. I am sure that this game will supersede the download records of the earlier versions.”

In the past, Pogo and Jump Games have created three Chhota Bheem based mobile games that have ranked amongst the highest played franchises among Indian themed mobile games.

Turner International India South Asia Sr. Director Network & Content Distribution Troy Lobo said, “Pogo’s strategy is to ensure kids can consume our content ‘Anytime, Anywhere’. Today, mobile gaming is an important medium to engage consumers for an immersive, interactive and fun experience with their favourite cartoon characters. The Chhota Bheem mobile games have a loyal fan base and we are sure the new ‘Mice Mayhem’ game will enjoy the same popularity and success.”

MUMBAI: Zapak Digital Entertainment has created a special destination for the upcoming London Olympics to engage users in an Olympic like virtual competition.

The Zapak Gaming Olympiad will offer a digital experience of the quadrennial event on PCs and mobiles and is the first initiative coming from a gaming platform to integrate Olympics with virtual casual gaming. The Gaming Olympiad is all set to go live on the same day as the London 2012 Olympics i.e. 27th July.

Speaking on Zapak Gaming Olympiad, Reliance Entertainment digital head product Deepak Abbot said, “Year on year we see a surge of about 10 to 15% on the website traffic during any sport event. Zapak Gaming Olympiad is the result of the same discovery. The Olympiad zone is Zapak’s initiative to offer one stop destination to our users for everything related to this year‘s Olympic Games.”

He added, “We wanted to develop a platform where users could be engaged in an Olympic like virtual competition while simultaneously can also keep themselves updated about the on-going games, which tends to become a little difficult at times via traditional media.”

The zone will feature live updates on medal tallies, results and updated game schedules. The Gaming Olympiad Zone will also host four simultaneous online competitions across these 4 games – Field Hockey, Hurdles Run, King of the Ring and Table Tennis Pro – where participants can compete in a virtual global ‘Olympic’ styled competition.

As a part of the Olympic destination, Zapak has created a leader board for each competition which will showcase the current standing of the top performers in each sport-based online game. The winner of each game will be awarded a motorbike once the competition concludes on 12 August. You can visit the zone on Olympics.zapak.com.

Zapak also plans to promote the Gaming Olympiad on various digital platforms. The brand is planning to integrate the Gaming Olympiad with Facebook and Twitter to connect with its social communities.

MUMBAI: Movie-on-demand service BigFlix is going to launch its service in the UK, US and Canada this quarter.

BigFlix is looking to take advantage of the sizeable NRI diaspora there. “These are our primary markets as there is a sizeable NRI diaspora there. Later we will go to markets like Singapore, the Middle East, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia etc. The good news is that there are no connectivity issues in these three markets,” says Reliance Entertainment Digital CEO Manish Agarwal.

BigFlix will add content in Bengali and other languages. While half the content is Hindi, the focus is also on beefing up Tamil and Telugu content. Reliance has some Malayalam and Bhojpuri content as well.

“We have 2000 titles and plan to double it in the next three to four months,” says Agarwal.

The monthly fee is $4.99 and a subscriber can watch unlimited movies.

The business model agreement with producers takes different forms like revenue sharing and assured monthly revenue. It would depend on the size of the film, the timeline of the rights and the quantity of films in a deal with the producer.

How much many subscribers BigFlix is targeting from these overseas markets? “It is difficult to give a figure at this stage. We do not know what the cost of customer acquisition or churn rate will be. Piracy, though, is not an issue for us. We are talking to producers and our message is that this is a legitimate form of content distribution.”

BigFlix is learning from Netflix‘s model which relied on premium content. “They realised early on before anybody else that premium content offered on a subscription basis can be monetised unlike user generated content on a platform like Youtube which is difficult to monetise. Netflix transmigrated users from offline to online and changed the paradigm of the business. We have also focussed on premium content,” says Agarwal.

BigFix, for instance, stopped its ad supported model last year in India. The Anil Ambani-owned company also closed down its physical stores in the country as it realised that scale wouldn‘t be possible through this route.

“We work with companies like LG, Panasonic as well as with laptop companies like Lenovo and Dell. Our app is preloaded and one can watch films for Rs 249 a month. We have a partnership with Airtel for their movies service. Wherever net inflection is happening, we want to be there,” avers Agarwal.

NEW DELHI: The Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) has admitted a petition challenging the Competition Commission of India‘s clearance to direct-to-home (DTH) operators including Tata Sky and Reliance Big TV of charges of market dominance abuse in the matter of set top boxes (STBs).

The CCI‘s 16-month-old order closing proceedings against the DTH operators over denial of interoperability to customers by changing Conditional Access Module (CAM) cards has been challenged by Consumer Online Foundation (COF).

After hearing counsel A N Haksar, the tribunal listed the matter for 5 September.

CCI had in March 2011 closed the case against DTH operators, saying they have not abused their dominant market position by not allowing interoperability.

In its complaint before the CCI, the COF had alleged that such a practice restricts choice of a DTH customer to enjoy the services of another DTH operator.

Under the present situation, they will have to buy a new STB from the new operator as a customer cannot change CAM cards in its STB.

According to COF, DTH services should be offered on the lines of mobile phone services where a consumer can use services of any telecom operator by changing the SIM card in his/her phone.

The CCI had said that there are techno-economic issues involved in making STBs interoperable. Moreover, the price of a CAM card, which is scarce in the market, is much higher than the price of a STB.

“We see no reason as to why the DTH operators should not give clear choice to subscribers to outright purchase, hire-purchase or rent the STB as mandated under the Direct to Home Broadcasting Services (Standards of Quality of Service and Redressal of Grievances) Regulations, 2007,” said CCI.

“The practice of supplying STB/CAMs by DTH service providers along with the subscription is not due to any tacit agreement or action in concert, but due to limitations of the existing technology and its cost,” the competition regulator added.