Category: Software

MUMBAI: Star TV has signed a 4-channel carriage deal with Time Warner Cable for Star Plus, Star Gold, Life OK, and Star News.

As part of the deal, the four channels will soon be available to Time Warner Cable customers in select markets.

“This collaboration between our two major companies, Star TV and Time Warner Cable, will offer an increased distribution to reach and entertain more viewers,” said Star TV EVP International Business Rajan Singh.

“Our existing viewers already appreciate Star TV‘s wholesome entertainment for the entire family. This beneficial artnership will complement and enhance the array of channels being offered on Time Warner Cable to a new group of viewers.”

NEW DELHI: Delhi-based local cable operators today showed black flags to Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni to mark their silent protest against the tariff order of Trai.

Soni, who had come to attend the FOCUS 2012 meet organised by ASSOCHAM on Digitisation, was told by LCOs that it was not possible to sustain their business of cable television with a revenue share of just Rs 45 out of Rs 100 that the subscriber will pay for the basic service tier of 100 free-to-air TV channels.

Soni promised the operators present that the ministry will look into these concerns.

Cable Operators Federation of India President Roop Sharma told the Minister that cable operators had set up this industry with their hard work and without any help from the government over the last 22 years and, therefore, the government should not hurt their business.

MUMBAI: Social networking site Facebook has said it will offer a total of 337.41 million shares as part of its first ever initial public offering with the price per share fixed between $28-35.

The company will be able to raise $11.8 billion at the top end and 9.45 billion at the lower end of the price band.

Even at $11 billion, the IPO would be fourth-largest in U.S. history after Visa Inc, General Motors, and AT&T Wireless.

The company, which had in February filed for a $5 billion IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission in United States, is expected to go public on 18 May. The stock will be listed on Nasdaq under the symbol ‘FB‘.

Launched in 2004, the social networking giant commands an active user base of over 800 million with revenues of $3.71 billion and a net profit of $1 billion last year.

Ahead of its IPO, Facebook has launched a 30-minute video about its ‘IPO roadshow‘ which features Zuckerberg talking about the company‘s growth and future prospects.

Facebook‘s executives like chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and finance chief David Ebersman will do a roadshow of New York, Boston, and Chicago convincing potential investors about the company.

The company has appointed Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan as its lead underwriters. Other bookrunners who were appointed to manage the IPO included Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and Allen & Co.

NEW DELHI: Users of UbiSlate (Aakash) tablets will be able to use the tablet in English, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Punjabi and various other languages of India and the world.

Datawind has entered into a strategic alliance with Reverie Language Technologies of Bangalore to ensure that the Ubislate series of tablets will offer an end user experience in all major local languages of India and the world.

Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli said, “We are very happy to have formed this strategic partnership with Reverie for supply of language solutions. We feel strongly that technology should reach every corner of the world and knowledge of English should not be a barrier. This language solution will benefit the users by offering a new world of services and products to a segment of world population that has been ignored for so long.”

Reverie Language Technologies CEO Arvind Pani said, “We are very excited to be part of Datawind family and getting a chance of making digital information available to the masses in their preferred language. We strongly believe that our alliance will go a long way in bridging the digital divide in the under-privileged communities across the world.”

An operating system level of integration will ensure that the complete user experience will be in the language of choice of the customer. UbiSlate tablets will have text-rendering technology capable of displaying all languages including complex scripts and keypads for all supported languages including transliteration technology.

Datawind will provide UbiSlate range of tablets and its services in all major local regional Indian and world languages. The language aware tablets will allow the information to be consumed and created in the preferred language of the user, freeing them from using English alone.

MUMBAI: Airtel Digital TV, the direct-to-home (DTH) business of Bharti Airtel, has posted an operating loss of Rs 1.94 billion for the fiscal fourth quarter.

The operating loss has stayed flat compared to a loss of Rs 1.95 billion it had suffered in the immediate trailing quarter. However, it has widened from Rs 1.46 billion in the year-ago period.

Airtel Digital TV‘s total revenue for the quarter rose to Rs 3.56 billion, from Rs 3.23 billion in the preceding quarter. Revenue for the year-ago period was at Rs 2.55 billion.

Airtel Digital TV’s Ebitda during the quarter stood at Rs 209 million, up 32 per cent from the earlier year. Cumulative investment on the segment stood at Rs 32.98 billion.

ARPU (average revenue per user) marginally improved to Rs 166, from Rs 160 in the earlier quarter, while the churn remained at 1.2 per cent.

The segment loss from the DTH to the telecom major for the full fiscal ended 31 March 2012 stood at Rs 7.2 billion, up from Rs 5.18 billion in the previous fiscal. The net revenue from the segment stood at Rs 12.96 billion, up from Rs 7.76 billion in the previous fiscal.

NEW DELHI: A total of 1,47,463 ( 59.49 % ) out of a total of 2,47,864 village panchayats had been covered with broadband connectivity as in March this year under Bharat Nirman, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sh Milind Deora told the Lok Sabha.

A rural Wire-line Broadband Scheme has been launched under Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) to increase broadband penetration in rural and remote areas. Under this scheme, BSNL will provide 8,88,832 wire-line broadband connections to individual users and Government Institutions over a period of five years. As on March 2012, a total of 3,58,978 broadband connections have been provided.

In states like MP, Chattisgarh and NE-II, the achievement of coverage of village panchayats under Bharat Nirman II is low (less than 25%). This is due to inaccessible and difficult terrain and law and order problems in some part of these states.

In its recommendations on National Broadband Plan (NBP), Trai had proposed that a 100 per cent central government-owned holding company, National Optical Fibre Agency (NOFA), be formed. In October 2011, the Government approved the scheme for creation of National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN), for providing broadband connectivity to 250,000 village Panchayats. The objective of this scheme is to extend the existing optical fiber network to Panchayats by utilising the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF).The project is proposed to be completed in two years.

NOFN project will be executed by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) – that is Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), a company incorporated under Indian Companies Act 1956, fully owned by Central Government, with equity participation from Government, BSNL, Railtel and Power Grid. The company has been incorporated on 25.2.2012 for this purpose. BBNL is currently working out modalities for implementation of this project.

MUMBAI: Topps Sport & Entertainment is back with Cricket Attax 2012 based on the DLF Indian Premier League. Cricket Attax is the official trading card game of IPL.

This year the popular game will be available in a new avatar with all new Starter Packs and multi-packs in a veritable range of SKU’s ranging from Rs 15 to Rs 750.

Cricket Attax is a game for 2 players and the aim is to beat your opponent by scoring the most runs and losing the fewest wickets. Users can select and create their own team with the likes of Tendulkar, Dhoni, Sehwag, Virat, Gambhir, Kallis, Dravid, Ganguly, Gilchrist and Pollard just waiting to be found in card packets.

The Cricket Attax collection comprises primarily two key components – ‘Cards’ and ‘Starter Packs’. There are a total of 194 cards to be collected including 144 regular cards, 25 sliver effect foil cards and 25 gold effect foil cards. The packs also include Limited Edition cards of Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Zaheer Khan.

Topps Sport & Entertainment head of India operations Sanjeev Katyal said, “Last year the brand brought in the culture of collectability and created a new category of collectables in India. The sales volumes created a history by reaching sales figures of nearly ten times than the nearest comparable toy collectable in the country. Given the enhanced depth and width of our offering and the massive scale of our marketing efforts, we are confident that this year we will multiply our reach both in terms of awareness and conversions at retail and set another new benchmark for Cricket Attax.”

Last year Topps India Sports & Entertainment Company introduced India to the collectable culture with the launch of the Topps Cricket Attax trading card game.

The game was launched with nationwide media and BTL campaign and spread like a viral to reach millions of kids across the country.

NEW DELHI: The Government is examining the recommendation by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India relating to “Auction of Spectrum”.

The Trai report of 23 April says the limit for acquisition of spectrum shall be 50 per cent of the spectrum assigned in each band in the respective service area, and 25 per cent of the total spectrum assigned in all bands put together in each service area.

Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Milind Deora told Lok Sabha that initial spectrum of 4.4 / 6.2 MHz was allotted in the Cellular Mobile Telephone Services (CMTS) Licensees/Unified Access Service (UAS) Licensees as per the provisions of service license agreement, subject to availability.

Additional spectrum beyond initial spectrum was also allotted under the guidelines/orders/criteria in force at the time of such allotment, subject to availability.

MUMBAI: There is no cause for dissatisfaction on the carriage fee issue as this is the first time it has been brought under regulation, Trai chairman J S Sarma said.

Multi-system operators (MSOs) will have to carry a minimum of 500 channels from 1 January 2013, which means a large number of channels will be carried.

There is also the must-carry provision, Sarma told analysts on a conference call.

While the MSOs have the freedom to decide on the carriage fee, they will have to publish it. It has to be transparent and it is non-discriminatory across all channels. The carriage fee pricing is also frozen for two years and filed with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). So no longer it is a flush of money going upfront in some kind of an informal arrangement.

If a broadcaster asks for a channel to be carried, there is obviously a carriage cost that will have to be paid. But there is no carriage fee in case a MSO seeks for a channel, Sarma pointed out.

The regulator can also intervene if the carriage fee is unreasonable, he added.

It may be recalled that the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) had expressed shock at Trai‘s tariff order for digital addressable systems as it has legitimised carriage fee.

Will consumers pay more for their cable TV? “There is enough competition on the ground. Consumers can go to DTH or to another MSO in places where there is competition among MSOs. Otherwise, they will lose to DTH. It will be a lost golden opportunity for them. They would also lose broadband. If the pricing is exorbitant and necessary, then Trai will intervene,” Sarma averred.

Sarma pointed out that the current cable TV ARPU is Rs 165. Trai‘s order has prescribed for Rs 100 for 100 free-to-air (FTA) channels and a minimum of Rs 150 for FTA and pay channels. “Cable operators are flexible in some pockets (poorer pockets like slums) and further drop their rates to the consumer. They will like to continue with it,” he added.

Will there be a shift in the deadline since the tariff order has just come and there is just two months to go? “I don‘t anticipate any change in date. The necessary set-top boxes (STBs) are ordered (there is a requirement of around 10 million STBs in the four metros that fall under digitisation in the first phase). Of course, it is for the Ministry to take a call on this (deadline date). But I believe there is no need not to stick to the deadline,” Sarma said.

MUMBAI: 9X Media has launched 9X Play, a series of gaming apps for 9XM fans on the digital platform. Users can download and play these games on their iPhones, iPads and Android devices.

9X Play offers a wide range of games with the 9XM animated characters including Bade, Chote, Silly Chicken, Bheegi Billi and Badshah Bhai.

9X Media Group VP digital Vibha Gosher said, “The gaming industry has seen a consistent growth in the last few years due to the advent of 3G and mobile gaming devices. The penetration of smart phones as portable entertainment devices has further catapulted the gaming industry manifold. The consumers are constantly on a look out for newer forms of entertainment.

“The animated characters of our network are extremely popular amongst the younger audiences. The thrill of interacting with the animated characters gave us the motivation to create these apps and games that would take them out of the TV sets and put them into the hands of our consumers.”

The key titles on 9X Play include Talking Silly Chicken, Talking Buddies, Angry 9XM Heroes, Silly Chicken, 9XM Jigsaw and Joke Central.

Gosher further added, “Our games have received a very warm welcome which further strengthens our belief that games with entertainment and characters with a story provide the gaming audience a 9XM experience on their personal iPad, iPhones or Android handsets.”

With digital games being popular amongst the females, 9X Play also has a Dress up Bhabhi Application on the iPad. Bhabhi has a huge following on 9X Tashan – the Punjabi music channel. The app gives users a chance to Dress up Bhabhi for the wedding season.