Category: Software

MUMBAI: Content provider and aggregator Shemaroo Entertainment has provided the backend technology and user interface for the launch of Airtel mDivine – an interactive service that allows Airtel mobile customers across India to receive live audio visual feed from their favourite religious shrines anytime, anywhere.

Airtel mobile customers can now leverage this service powered by Shemaroo to follow their faith through their mobile phones and subscribe to Airtel mDivine by visiting the Airtel mobile WAP site. Services offered are live darshan, aarti, shabd, hamd, mass ceremonies etc. Recorded content from around 500 shrines and live feeds from more than 20 shrines like Shirdi Sai Saisthan, Haji Ali and Sheesh Ganj Gurudwara from across India will also be available on Airtel mDivine.

Using a simple user interface provided by Shemaroo, customers can also search for a video through deity filters or on the basis of parameters such as popularity, latest and user ratings. The service can work as a guide towards helping customers learn more on related informative videos – such as how to reach a particular shrine, prayer timings etc. Additionally, Airtel mobile customers can also use this service to download their favourite devotional wallpapers, animations and ringtones from this WAP portal.

Shemaroo Entertainment Director Jai Maroo said, “Devotional content on mobile has been always a popular category. There is a large chunk of population who subscribe to it on their hand sets. Airtel mDivine is one stop shop for Airtel mobile customers to watch live feeds of their deities, share them with friends or create their own playlists. As a content house, we are constantly working with Airtel to bring in innovation in our offerings and set new trends in the industry – and Airtel mDivine is just another step in the direction.”

Airtel mDivine is a complete interactive service where customers can not only create a playlist by tagging their favourite devotional videos but also share this content with their friends and family via SMS.

Together, Shemaroo and Airtel offer a host of devotional service offerings for religious or spiritual customers to follow their beliefs in India.

Shemaroo also runs a devotional service on Airtel DTH – iDarshan that is a 24-hr devotional interactive service for Airtel Digital TV customers.

Airtel iDivine can be accessed from the URL http://airteldivine.shemaroo.com. Airtel mobile customers can also SMS ‘Divine‘ to 54321 to receive the link on their mobile phones and start accessing their devotional content.

MUMBAI: Online retail major Amazon.com and US non fiction broadcaster Discovery have announced a licensing agreement that will allow Amazon Prime members to stream prior seasons of series and specials from Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, Science and Military Channel, as well as content from the company‘s rich, 25-year programming library.

Among the programmes included in the agreement are Discovery Channel‘s ‘Dirty Jobs‘, TLC‘s ‘Say Yes To The Dress‘ and Animal Planet‘s ‘Whale Wars‘.

Since the 2011 launch of Prime Instant Video, a subscription service of Amazon Instant Video, Amazon has added more than 12,000 titles to bring the total title count to more than 17,000.

Amazon director of video content acquisition Brad Beale said, “Discovery Communications has always been a leader in creating entertaining and enlightening programming for the entire family. With the addition of this great content from Discovery Communications, Prime customers now have more than 17,000 titles to choose from when watching Prime Instant Video-that‘s in addition to the more than 120,000 titles that are offered to all customers for purchase or rent on Amazon Instant Video.”

Discovery senior VP, dgital dstribution and partnerships Rebecca Glashow said, “Discovery Communications is committed to delighting audiences on all platforms supported by the right business model, and we are pleased to work with Amazon to help satisfy our existing viewers‘ curiosity and introduce new audiences to our engaging content. This library offering will be a wonderful complement to our current array of multi-channel video services and most importantly, a win for viewers.”

MUMBAI: The entire RTL universe on your mobile. That´s what Mobistar and RTL Belgium are proposing to all fans of the channel Plug RTL, with a mobile offer designed just for them: Plug Mobile.

On the menu: free access to the three channels of RTL Belgium via the 3G network, videos on demand on your mobile telephone, exclusive contests, zapping and even the possibility of choosing which films will be broadcasted on Plug RTL.

It is available in 450 Mobistar points of sale in Wallonia and Brussels. Plug Mobile is not only a prepaid mobile phone offer that is both simple and advantageous, but also and above all a privileged access to the universe of RTL Belgium, and of Plug RTL in particular.

RTL Belgium CEO Philippe Delusinne said, “For RTL, digital convergence is a reality, especially for the younger generations, and Plug Mobile clearly responds to this imperative. Thanks to this new mobile offer, we enable this target public – which is, precisely, highly mobile – to remain in contact with our TV channels and our contents at any time, wherever they are. After an initial collaboration distributing the RTL channels on the Starpack digital TV platform, Plug Mobile will consolidate our strategic partnership with Mobistar.”

Mobistar CEO Jean Marc Harion said, “This co-marketing agreement with RTL Belgium fits perfectly within our strategy of partnerships, whose objective is to synergize with other brands in order to target market segments where we have less of a presence with the Mobistar brand. Via the Plug Mobile brand we’re reaching a younger, more feminine target group and further strengthening our position in the highly competitive prepaid cards segment. I´m delighted by this structural and strategic partnership between Mobistar and RTL Belgium, and I hope that this alliance will perpetuate itself by evolving towards other screens as well.”

Intended for the ultra-connected between ages 15 and 34 who love television, cinema and the latest trends, the Plug Mobile offer includes functionalities that are altogether novel on the Belgian mobile telephony market:

• free surfing on the Plug RTL portal (accessible via an iPhone or Android application or via a dedicated mobile site), with access in 3G to the three channels of RTL Belgium in Mobile TV and to a selection of the best videos on demand of RTL Belgium (including an exclusive and daily 12-minute zapping broadcast every day at 6.10 p.m. on Plug RTL)


• the possibility of becoming a Plug RTL programmer and voting for the horror film that will be broadcasted on the channel Friday evening during the “Plug Horror Show”


• contests in order to win seats at VIP avant-premi?res abroad, to attend film shoots, or to win DVDs, concert tickets, etc.

Plug Mobile is activated free of charge, and each customer can keep his or her current number. It is possible to top up for 5, 10 or 15 euros

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has released a consultation paper on “Amendment in the ISP Licence Agreement for incorporating the terms and conditions mentioned in Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) dated 25 February 2010 for use of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum”.

Trai had received a reference from the Department of Telecommunication seeking is recommendations for amendment in the ISP Licence Agreement in this regard.

DoT had auctioned BWA spectrum during May-June 2010 in accordance with the terms and conditions mentioned in the NIA. The terms and conditions of the NIA related to licence conditions are to be included in the licence agreements of those ISPs, who have successfully obtained BWA spectrum through the auction process.

This aim of the consultation paper is to get comments of the stakeholders on the proposal that all the terms and conditions related to licence conditions mentioned in the NIA may be incorporated in the licence agreements of the ISPs, who have successfully obtained BWA spectrum through the auction process.

The full text of the Consultation Paper is available on Trai’s website. Written comments on the issue raised in this consultation paper are invited from the stakeholders by 26 March.

NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sachin Pilot said today that India is the third largest telecom user after China and the United States.

Pilot said it was clear that the future of computing technology belongs to handheld devices. The volume of users and not the technology will decide the standards in the times to come.

India offered huge opportunities in the field of content creation, the Minister said while inaugurating a one day conference on mobile web initiative in Indian languages.

The meet, which was also attended by newly appointed secretary of Department of Electronics and Information Technology J. Satyanarayan, debated and discussed the various critical aspects of providing Indian languages support over the mobile web and developing Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP) standard.

Mobile Web integrated with Voice Interface would be the next paradigm shift in computing technology. The increasing processor speed, embedded with the latest signal processing capability for voice, data and multimedia signals, makes it the preferred medium of service delivery, increasing focus on client side features.

With the advent of 4G and LTE technologies, the Internet and web access through mobile media would receive a tremendous boost. This momentum would further be accelerated if people could use their own language to communicate over the mobile.

There are 22 constitutionally recognised languages, and a large number of dialects. Therefore, the next giant leap from present user base and beyond has to be primarily driven by Mobile Web and Internet content in the local language which will be used by mostly rural population of India, from where the next surge of mobile penetration is set to grow. This would also usher in governance paradigm shift of citizen centric service delivery through m-governance platform.

Seamless Access of Indian languages over the mobile web would be possible if the specific issues for enabling mobile ecosystems are addressed quickly. This requires active involvement of all stakeholders ranging from mobile device manufacturers, service providers, research community and the users.

There is a need to create a common framework of Mobile Standards in India for seamless data interchange, the basis of which should be the Unicode, which is the industry standard for text interchange. Since many of the citizen centric services would be built on SMS / MMS/ IM based systems, due to advent of m-governance framework of the Government, common standard /best practices need to be evolved urgently taking into account the Indian languages requirement.

W3C Works with all major Mobile Standardization Bodies and works mainly in Application Interface Domain. W3C SMIL (Scalable Multimedia Integration Language) incorporated in 3GPP2, LTE and 4G- LTE Advanced standards. W3C is presently reviewing the Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP) standard for incorporating the new computing paradigm shift and device capabilities.

W3C India is currently working on Development of Best Practices and Guidelines for Seamless Mobile Access in Indian Languages. W3C India has recently come out with three consultation papers in the areas pertaining to (i) Enabling Mobile Devices in Indian Languages (ii) Service providers perspective and (iii) Mobile Vas Content development. This daylong Conference will debate and discuss the various critical aspects of providing Indian languages support over the Mobile Web. Businesses have to succeed to bring forth more and more people, for these best practices have to be followed.

Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) along with W3C India is holding this daylong event to address issues and challenges being faced by the Digital Industry with regard to content in Indian languages being deployed over mobile web. Development, proliferation and deployment of other W3C standards will complement these efforts further and will support ICT implementations enabled with Indian languages such as Mobile technologies, Voice Browser, Web Accessibility and Web Services.

MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide‘s division BBC Worldwide Digital Entertainment and Games has announced the official launch of Doctor Who: Worlds in Time, the first browser-based, free-to-play multiplayer online game based on the television series ‘Doctor Who‘.

Created in partnership with Three Rings, the developer of persistent online worlds Puzzle Pirates and Spiral Knights, the game transports fans and gamers alike on a journey throughout the boundless Doctor Who universe.

Doctor Who: Worlds in Time aims to offer something for everyone, including an intriguing narrative for sci-fi followers and serious gamers and stimulating missions for game enthusiasts looking for a quick pick-up-and-play game.

After preparing the Tardis, players travel to various immersive worlds (including Ember, Mars and New New York) and work together to defend civilisation against infamous villains (including the Weeping Angels, Cybermen, Daleks, Autons, Oods and Zygons) bent on creating chaos and destruction in the universe.

Since the open preview launch in December 2011, the BBC and Three Rings have worked to make more Doctor Who environments available, as well as introduce additional virtual items and create deeply engaging communal features.

BBC Worldwide Digital Entertainment and Games executive VP Robert Nashak said, “We’ve developed Worlds in Time with the goal of becoming the largest online community for Doctor Who fans, while also being a fun, compelling and immersive gateway into the world of Doctor Who for all gamers”.

While Doctor Who: Worlds in Time is free-to-play, players can enrich their gameplay and hasten their progress through the purchase of Chronons, which help them to customise their avatars, complete mini-games, build new contraptions and more.

Three Rings Design CEO Daniel James said, “I have been a fan of Doctor Who since I was a child, so developing this game with BBC Worldwide is a dream come true. Like the Doctor, we have our own mission, to provide Doctor Who fans an experience matched only by the wondrous TV series, and casual gamers a warm opportunity to discover the marvelous world for themselves. It‘s exciting to see the Doctor Who universe come to life in such a unique way.”

MUMBAI: Network18 has roped in former Den Networks CEO Anuj Gandhi as group director – distribution and new business development.

Sources said Gandhi will be responsible for the group‘s domestic and overseas distribution, including new media and content syndication.

Gandhi had quit as Den‘s CEO in September 2010. He had played a significant role in building Den Networks as one of the leading multi-system operators (MSOs) in the country. He was earlier Set Discovery (now MSM Discovery) president.

After leaving Den, he was consulting various media outfits including Hulu.

Gandhi was not reachable till the time of filing this report.

NEW DELHI: A total of 112 government websites were hacked between December 2011 and February 2012.

These hacked websites belonged to government agencies in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur and agencies of Union Ministries of Finance, Health, Planning Commission and Human Resource Development.

The website of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited,www.bsnl.co.in, was hacked on 4 December 2011 by the ‘H4tr!ck’ hacker group.

According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the numbers of Internet frauds involving Rs 100,000 and above have declined over the last three years from 269 cases in the calendar year 2009 to 125 cases in 2011.

However, after taking into account the Internet frauds where the amount involved in individual cases is less than Rs 100,000, the total number of Internet frauds was 864 numbers involving Rs 82.4 million; 2232 cases involving Rs 123.5 million; and 1798 cases involving Rs 78.74 million for the calendar year 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Interestingly, Parliament was informed today that the Central Bureau of Investigation registered only two cases each in the years 2009 and 2010 and three in 2011, while two cases were registered in the current year as on 20 February pertaining to financial frauds under the Information Technology Act 2000 along with other acts.

NEW DELHI: The Government has reiterated that social networking sites should observe due diligence and safeguards for prevention of hosting of obscene, blasphemous, pornographic, paedophilic, and defamatory material on their website.

Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sachin Pilot told Parliament today that the Government had notified the Information Technology (Intermediaries guidelines) Rules 2011 under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act 2000.

Sections 67, 67A and 67B of the Information Technology Act,2000 provides stringent punishment and fine for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form as well as for publishing or transmitting material containing sexually explicit act or depicting children engaged in sexually explicit act.

The Government has also notified Information Technology (Guidelines for cyber cafe) Rules 2011 under Section 79 of the Act which prescribe the general guidelines and security measures to be observed by cyber cafés. Rule 7 provide for supervision of cyber cafe for the compliance of these guidelines.

MUMBAI: Is further consolidation coming to Indian cable TV land? Last year, Zee and Star merged their distribution aggregation firms – Zee Turner and Star Den – to form Mediapro. Last week, News Corp announced that it was exiting from leading Indian cable TV MSO Hathway Cable, paving the way for private equity firm Providence to enter.

Now, the buzz is gaining ground that a deal between Digicable and Den Networks is imminent. Sources indicate that talks between the two are at an advanced stage.

“Talks are on for a share-swap deal. Details of the share swap ratio are being worked out,” a source familiar with the development said.

Apparently, private equity firm Ashmore, which controls Digicable, is eager that a deal does indeed take place.

“We are in talks. But nothing has happened so far,” Digicable MD and CEO JS Kohli said.

Den founder-promoter Sameer Manchanda was not available for comment till the filing of this report.

The consolidation is coming in the wake of the government‘s mandate to the cable TV industry to switch over nationally from analogue mode to digital by December 2014, beginning with the four metros over the next three months.

The merger, if it does go through, will result in a behemoth with 17 million subscribers nationally.

A deal between the Den and Digicable, however, will require some serious hammering out, indicate observers.

For starters, is the red ink that stains Digicable‘s finances. Den will have to absorb those. Then there is the huge investment that is needed to upgrade headends and homes to digital.

“The merged entity will have a huge footprint, but the challenge for Den will be to raise capital to support digitisation of this expanded network,” said a media analyst.

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