Category: Software

MUMBAI: Sun TV Network has added four more channels to its bouquet in the US on Dish Network, taking its total fleet to 10 on the DTH platform.

The channels – Adithya TV (Tamil comedy), Gemini Comedy (Telugu comedy), Kiran TV (Malayalam music) and Sun Music (Tamil music) – are available from today onwards.

Sun TV Network already airs Sun TV, KTV, Gemini TV, Gemini Movies, Udaya TV and Surya TV in the US.

The company believes that the addition of new channels will give the South Indian diaspora in the US a greater variety of choice in the genres.

Sun TV Network’s K Vijay Kumar said that the development will allow the company to further expand its reach in the international markets and enhance the subscription revenues.

“Dish dominates the South Indian market in the US and we are thrilled to bring more of our content to an even wider audience,” Kumar added.

Sun TV Network offers 32 channels in the four South Indian languages. Apart from US, many channels are also available in Canada, Europe, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Said Dish VP of international programming Chris Kuelling, “We are leader in delivering TV channels from across India to those in the US seeking news, music and entertainment from their home country. Dish currently offers 92 South Indian channels, and the launch of additional Sun TV Network programming shows our continued commitment to serve the South Indian community.”

MUMBAI: e-commerce company Snapdeal.com has acquired Delhi-based sports e-retailer, eSportsbuy.com.

Snapdeal.com CEO Kunal Bahl said, “Indian sports goods market is slated to become a $2.7 billion industry by 2014, and given that the offline market for this sector is highly fragmented, and unorganised to a large extent, it is a great opportunity for an e-commerce player like Snapdeal, to bridge the gap in demand and supply. The team at eSportsbuy has done a great job in building a strong supply side network of sports and fitness products.”

Started almost a year back by IIT graduates Prateek Agarwal and Amit Monga who have worked with companies like Amazon and IBM, eSportsbuy has built a wide range of quality sports products across hundreds of national and international brands.

In a similar move, another e-retailer Flipkart bought letsbuy.com in February for a reported $20 million.

E-retailing is rearing its head in India in a big way with many sites cropping up in the past year or so. According to Avendus Capital, the ecommerce industry in the country will grow by four times the present size to reach $24 million size in 2015.

MUMBAI: MSM Discovery, the exclusive distribution partner of Multi Screen Media, has signed up Dish TV, Airtel Digital TV and multi system operator Hathway Cable & Datacom for airing of the fifth edition of IPL in high-definition (HD) format.

MSM Discovery has also renewed its HD feed deal with Tata Sky and Sun Direct, the only two DTH operators who had aired the HD feed in the previous season of the Indian Premier League.

MSM Discovery president Rajesh Kaul said, “We will have the IPL HD feed on the main DTH subscribers. Tata Sky and Sun Direct have renewed the deal as they have found value in it. We have also got three other DTH operators in, which gives us a huge reach.”

Dish TV CEO RC Venkateish told Indiantelevision.com that the deal has been signed and the IPL HD feed will be available on Max HD to all the HD subscribers, free of cost.

“We are in talk with other DTH operators like Videocon d2h,” Kaul said.

Hathway Cable & Datacom has bundled the channel with other HD channels in its bouquet. The services are available in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

“The Max HD is a precursor and we will also have HD feed of Sony Entertainment Television and the upcoming sports channel from the MSM bouquet,” Hathway MD and CEO K Jayaraman said.

Hathway customers can buy HD set-top box with 12-18 HD channels and 225 SD channels for Rs 6,666 in the first year. Meanwhile, bundled with broadband at 2 mbps speed the price is Rs 8,888 and for 5 mbps speed it is at Rs 9,999.

“MSOs realise that digitisation is round the corner and will have to compete with DTH. HD service becomes essential in such a scenario where they can tap their premium subscribers,” said Kaul.

IndusInd Media & Communications Ltd, which operates its cable TV business under Incablenet brand, is in talks with MSM Discovery. “Our contract with TheOneAlliance (brand of MSM Discovery) expires on 30 April. We are in talks and this also includes the HD feed,” said IMCL chief executive officer Nagesh Chabria.

MUMBAI: BBC will make 24 HD-quality live Olympic streams available to cable and satellite providers, on a non-exclusive basis, for the duration of the Olympic Games.

This announcement ensures that, for the first time ever, millions of viewers across the UK will be able to watch every Olympic sport, live from every venue.

Viewers will be able to access the same content that will be streamed live on the BBC Sport website on their TVs, through the Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) and BBC Red Button as well as on all four screens online – mobile, tablet, connected TV and PC.

Previously, the BBC has promised to broadcast up to 24 simultaneous streams live online, giving a platform to every Olympic sport for the first time ever. So, if viewers want to spend all day watching the judo or the swimming, they’ll be able to.

This service will complement the BBC’s flagship channels, BBC One and BBC Three, which will air all of the key moments from the Olympics, as well as other platforms including Radio 5 live.

Combined, this coverage will deliver around 2,500 hours of live sport coverage through the various BBC platforms during the Games.

BBC London 2012 director Roger Mosey said, “BBC One and BBC Three will remain the flagship channels for the Olympics. But, as the London 2012 Olympic Games will be the first truly ‘Digital Games’, we wanted to offer an unprecedented amount of live sporting action to the widest possible audience through these 24 live streams, giving vastly more choice than ever before.”

MUMBAI: IndusInd Media and Communications Ltd, the media subsidiary company of Hinduja Ventures Ltd, is setting foot in Kolkata through the acquisition route, ahead of the government‘s digitisation mandate.

IMCL has picked up 51 per cent stake in two cable networks – Hooghly-based Advanced Multisystem Broadband Communications (AMBC) and Skyvision. With this, the Hinduja-owned multi-system operator (MSO) will have operations in three out of the four metros that fall under the first phase of digitisation.

“We have acquired 51 per cent stake in AMBC and Skyvision as we want to service Kolkata in the digitisation phase. We will be expanding in the other main cities of West Bengal,” IMCL chief executive officer Nagesh Chabria told Indiantelevision.com.

IMCL is also planning to acquire around 30,000 primary points that will give it access directly to the customer homes. “We plan to invest around Rs 1 billion over one year in that market. We intend to invest Rs 200 million in primary point acquisition and an almost similar amount in network and upgradation. We are looking at ordering 350,000 set-top boxes. This will include demand for second TV and our expansion into the city. We are also confident to recover whatever base AMBC has lost in the past year,” said Chabria.

IMCL is setting up a digital head-end in the central part of Kolkata as it plans to expand in the metro, adding to its strong base in Mumbai and Delhi. AMBC already has a head-end that services Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) which falls under the digitisation belt.

Kolkata is a low ARPU (average revenue per user) market. IMCL‘s strategy will be to test the Kolkata market before it decides to pump in big investments. The MSO already has a licence to operate in Kolkata.

Sources say smaller cable networks are willing to forego stake, allowing the bigger MSOs to fund the digitisation. This also offers a growth opportunity for these networks who are starved of capital to expand.

A media analyst expressed doubts over IMCL‘s ambitious target of deploying 350,000 STBs in that market over a period of one year. “The investment of Rs 1 billion and 350,000 STBs sounds too high at this stage. All will depend on how that market responds,” he said.

The big-tier MSOs have taken the acquisition route to have a presence in Kolkata ahead of digitisation. In Kolkata, Hathway has a presence through its joint venture company, Gujarat Telelinks Pvt Ltd (GTPL), which acquired a 51 per cent stake in Kolkata Cable and Broadband Pariseva. Den Networks chief operating officer Mohammad Ghulam Azhar had earlier told Indiantelevision.com that it has acquired a small cable network in Kolkata.

Also Read:

GTPL plans Rs 3.5 bn investment, Cisco Capital may fund digitisation in Kolkata

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MUMBAI: Advertising on internet in the United Kingdom has seen a 14.4 per cent surge in 2011. Spend on the digital medium reached to approximately $8 billion last year.

According to the study from Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PriceWaterhouseCoopers‘ (PWC) report, it is the highest growth registered in the last five years.

The fast-paced growth can be attributed to the increasing access of internet and the proliferation of smartphones and tablets which allow users to access the internet on the go. Previous surveys have shown that ad money has been shifted from newspapers to online while there is stability in television.

The IAB said that on an average 39.7 million people accessed internet each month in Britain, while 27 per cent of all the time spent online was spent on social networks.

“In fairly stagnant economic times, online‘s like for like growth of 14.4 percent year on year is a really positive story. If we look at the take up of smartphones and tablets, that‘s going to be the next injection of growth with people accessing the internet on the go. So for 2012 we expect similar rates,” IAB director of research and strategy Tim Elkington told Reuters.

The spending on online video ads has doubled to 109 million pounds in 2011. It has grown eight-fold since 2008. There has been increase of ad spending on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn by 75 per cent to 240 million pounds. Additionally, due to the increasing number of smartphone users, the ad spend on mobile devices (including online category) has increased by 157 per cent to 203 million pounds.

Dominated by Google, search advertising that allows consumers to directly respond to a brand and purchase their goods, grew by 17.5 per cent to 2.8 billion pounds, giving it a 58 percent share of online advertising spend, slightly higher than that in 2010.

Classified ads also grew by 5.2 per cent to 785 million pounds from 751 million pounds in 2010. Consumer and B2B (business-to-business) classifieds (property, cars, holidays and B2B), reached the half billion milestone for the first time at 509 million pounds (485 million pounds in 2010).

MUMBAI: Facebook has announced the launch of the ‘Facebook for Every Phone mobile application‘ in three new languages – Hindi, Malay and Vietnamese – and seven local Indian languages – Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Bengali and Marathi. The seven local Indian languages will be rolled out in phases in India over the next few weeks.

Originally launched in July 2011, the application now works on more than 3,600 Java-enabled phones around the world. The application will support 2500+ devices and work great on 2/2.5G networks, enabling a Smartphone like experience for feature phones.

The application will be available on most Nokia phones, including the upcoming Nokia Asha 202 dual sim phone and is available on leading app stores, including the Nokia Store, GetJar, Appia, and Mobile Weaver.

Facebook country growth manager Kevin D‘Souza said, “With over 50 million people in India on Facebook, we want to make sure that everyone has a great Facebook mobile experience regardless of the device that they choose to use. The launch of Facebook for Every Phone mobile application in Hindi and the other regional languages enables more people to connect and share with the people they care about, anytime, anywhere.”

The company currently has more than 800 million monthly active users and over 350 million mobile users worldwide.

NEW DELHI: Micromax has today launched its ‘Funbook tablet‘, which will cost Rs 6,499, along with a Tata Photon stick.

The 10 mm thin tablet will be marketed extensively in the coming weeks.

Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma, while refusing to give actual marketing figures, told indiantelevision.com that around 15 per cent of the company‘s annual budget will be spend on promoting the tablet.

He said, at present the total attention of the advertising would be on the tablet with a 360 degree marketing over all forms of media including television commercials, print, digital and out of home advertising.

The Funbook, which has been made with totally indigenous technology, will not only have the facility of educational programmes for all classes according to the course curricula on 3-D technology, but the availability of around 48 television channels, apart from games, and other facilities.
Micromax has partnered with Pearson, Everonn, and Vriti to bring best of digital Education. Bigflix, Indiagames and Zenga will offer entertainment on the device, and the tie-up with Tata Photon + is to bundle EVDO data card with 1 GB of additional download for two months.

Funbook will also be retailed at Tata stores.

Sharma said that consumers can obtain the tablet through snapdeal.com and can pay directly, in three equal installments, or pay Rs 500 and the rest on delivery.

He said that Micromax expected an increase of 25 to 30 per cent in the domestic market over the next year with the introduction of the tablet.

The tablet being manufactured at a plant near Haridwar would be available within a few days. A total of 100,000 tablets could be manufactured per month at present.
Earlier in a press meet, Micromax CEO Deepak Mehrotra announced a roll out in more than 50 cities across India, with plans to step beyond its own network of 100,000 stores, targets MBOs / organised trade and e-commerce portals to sell the device.

The device runs on Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The device is targeted at 67 per cent (close to 20 million) of the total urban youth population in India who aspire to own a computing device for learning and fun.

Mehrotra said, “Fun and education are two important elements of a youth‘s life; they always try to balance between what they “have to do” and what they “want to do”. With the launch of Funbook, we are offering a smart solution to solve this dilemma, and we believe that Funbook will help create a balance between the two.”

Funbook comes with 17.78 cm capacitive screen, runs on 1.2 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM and is 1 cm in thickness. The device can be customised as a mini library by storing contents up to 4GB in its internal memory that is expandable up to 32GB. The Funbook integrates a 0.3 MP VGA Front Facing Camera to capture images to relive all your favorite memories. With HD Video playback at 1080p, users can enjoy watching videos, movies and clips in HD mode. The HDMI port lets you connect with any other multimedia device such as TV or projector and enjoy the content in the desired way. With its big screen, watching movies, pictures and games is always a joy, reading books and surfing the net becomes much easier and convenient.

Powered by BIGflix, the users can choose from over 1000 movies in 9 languages from Hindi, English, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi and Punjabi, across different genres like Action and Adventure, Comedy, Romance, Thriller, Drama, Animation, Musical and Horror with free access for first 30 days.

Funbook allows users to watch shows on channels like MTV, Colors, UTV Bindass, UTV Movies, NDTV and many more – live. Powered by Zenga, the Micromax Funbook leaves no stone unturned to bring entertainment in your palms.

Micromax Funbook is available in two variants; Suave Silver and Brilliant Black.

Available across all leading outlets in India, buyers can also choose to order the device through Micromax website through their newly launched section e-store, powered by Ncarry.

MUMBAI: With more than 5 million DirecTV customers losing access to Tribune Broadcasting‘s 23 local stations in 19 cities since midnight Saturday, the satellite broadcaster Monday announced that it has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission seeking an immediate intervention and expedited ruling against Tribune for failing to negotiate in good faith and bringing into question whether broadcast licenses have been prematurely, and inappropriately, transferred to bankruptcy creditors.

“In another case of runaway Wall Street greed, some of America‘s wealthiest hedge funds and investment banks, including Oaktree Partners, Angelo Gordon, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citibank, forced Tribune‘s senior management to renege on an agreement that would have kept DirecTV customers connected to their local programming. Their actions represent a brazen attempt to extract yet another bailout on the backs of innocent viewers,” the company said in a statement.

The complaint specifies Tribune‘s most senior executives represented themselves as possessing authority to negotiate a retransmission consent agreement and, in fact, achieved such an agreement in principle with DirecTV on 29 March.

However, late the following day, Tribune executives rescinded the agreement, following pressure from bankrupt Tribune‘s hedge fund and investment bank creditors.

“Two days prior to expiration of the existing carriage arrangement, the parties reached an agreement in principle for continued carriage,” the complaint reads. “The following day, however, Tribune reneged on that agreement. Tribune later confirmed that its management had been overruled by the hedge fund and investment bank creditors.

“DirecTV negotiated with Tribune for months, only learning on the very eve of expiration that it had never been dealing with anyone who had the authority required under the [FCC] rules. Indeed, DirecTV still does not know with whom it should be speaking — Tribune‘s CEO or its associated hedge funds and investment banks,” the complaint continues.

After entering bankruptcy in December 2008, Tribune sought FCC approval to transfer its broadcast licenses to a new entity that will eventually emerge in Tribune‘s reorganisation. Three of Tribune‘s largest creditors—JP Morgan Chase Bank; Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Oaktree Partners — will control 30 per cent of the voting and equity interests, Tribune explained.

But the FCC has yet to rule on those transfers. That means those same hedge funds and investment banks currently lack authority over Tribune broadcast operations, DirecTV said.

Tribune Broadcasting issued the following statement today regarding its negotiations with DirecTV and filing with the Federal Communications Commission:

“For months, Tribune and DirecTV have been negotiating a complex, multi-year contract for the carriage of our local television stations and WGN America. The contract is complex, in part, because it covers 23 local television stations with varying programming in 19 different markets, large and small, as well as our national cable network, WGN America,” Tribune said in a statement.

“Over the course of any negotiation, parties may agree in principle on some terms and disagree on others, but it takes closure on all terms by both parties to reach an agreement. We never reached agreement with DirecTV on all the terms of the contract—not in principle, not by handshake and not on paper. We didn’t have an agreement on Thursday, March 29, and we do not have an agreement now.

“Our most recent filing with the FCC regarding Tribune’s anticipated emergence from bankruptcy was merely to provide the commission with data it would need to evaluate following confirmation of a restructuring plan. Our hope was to shorten the time between confirmation of our plan and emergence from Chapter 11. Any intimation that our broadcast licenses have been prematurely transferred is simply false and misleading.”

Tribune reiterated its key demand that it wants an agreement with DirecTV that is similar to those it already has in place with hundreds of other content providers.

“Finally, Tribune management, with the full support of its Board of Directors, remains firmly committed to an expeditious negotiation with DirecTV for the carriage of our local stations and WGN America in order to continue our long-standing history of public service,” the statement added.

Earlier Tribune Broadcasting switched off across DirecTV‘s 19 markets in the US at midnight 31 March after the two parties failed to reach an agreement over commercial terms.

MUMBAI: Oprah Winfrey Network, the joint-venture between popular American talk show host and Discovery Communications, has entered into a distribution contract with Comcast Corporation.

The deal will come as a boost for Own, which has been grappling with sluggish growth due to management turmoil and cost overruns, as it will give the network access to 17 million Comcast subscribers and thereby increase its subscription revenues.

Comcast has agreed to pay subscriber fees for the channel at the start of next year. The cable operator currently carries the channel without paying subscriber fees.

Research firm SNL Kagan said the channel‘s average subscription fee is two cents a household per month, well below most other channels.

The research firm also estimated Own‘s average subscription fee to rise 15 cents a subscriber per month, amounting to more than $153 million for next year, up from $29 million this year.

Last month, Own had carried restructuring of its network operations in Los Angeles and New York eliminating 30 positions and redistributing those responsibilities to Discovery Communications and Harpo Studios.