Category: Software

MUMBAI: Hathway Cable & Datacom has posted a standalone net loss of Rs 182.78 million for the fiscal third-quarter ended 31 December 2011.

The multi-system operator (MSO) had reported a net loss of Rs 124.04 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

In the trailing quarter, the net loss was at Rs 103.18 million.

Total income from the operations rose 7.68 per cent to Rs 1.28 billion, compared to Rs 1.18 billion in the year-ago period. However, on Q-o-Q basis, it remains almost flat.

Hathway’s expenditure during the quarter went up by 6 per cent to Rs 1.05 billion, from Rs 986.57 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. In the second quarter of the fiscal, expenses were at Rs 1.07 billion.

Hathway’s profit from operations (before other income, interest, depreciation and exceptional items) jumped to Rs 230.38 million, compared to Rs 198.95 million in the earlier year.

As of 31 December 2011, the company has invested Rs 4.24 billion out of the total proceeds of the Rs 4.80 billion IPO. It has spent Rs 2 billion for investments in development of digital capital, expenditure, services and set-top boxes along with development of broadband infrastructure, capital expenditure and services. It has also spent Rs 1.89 billion for repayment of loans and Rs 122.85 million in acquisition of customers.

MUMBAI: Facebook has integrated the music site from Indiatimes Gaana.com as an application into its new Timeline.

This will enable users to share the music they are listening to with their Facebook friends.

The social networking site recently launched timeline apps with 60 applications to begin with. Timeline apps allow for real-world activities to be shared with friends.

Gaana.com also built an iPad version using HTML5 in August 2011.

Times Internet CEO Rishi Khiani said, “We have always believed music is discovered via common tastes and peer to peer recommendation. With gaana.com‘s integration on Facebook‘s Timeline, we expect to see strong traction of our content and an increased user base via Facebook.”

The application is included in Facebook‘s list of application. The user will be directed to Gaana.com website with a click. He can listen to the song he feels like and that will be posted on his Facebook page.

Gaana.com provides free and licensed music to its listeners. It has a collection of Hindi, regional and English songs. The key features include song recommendations and Radio Gaana.

MUMBAI: Online social network Myspace has tapped Roger Mincheff to lead Myspace Entertainment as president.

Myspace Entertainment will be Myspace‘s internal production and entertainment division responsible for original programming and content.

Mincheff has inked his first deal with Fox Digital Entertainment and Kia Motors to deliver ‘Wolfpack Of Reseda‘. The original web series blends workplace comedy with the supernatural.

The first season follows 20-something Ben March, whose mundane life takes a drastic turn after he‘s bitten by a mysterious creature in the woods. Convinced he‘s been bitten by a werewolf, March forms his own “wolfpack” and becomes the alpha dog of Reseda. Myspace will distribute the eight episode series for free.

Myspace CEO Tim Vanderhook said, “Roger is the perfect choice to launch Myspace Entertainment. In a short period of time Roger‘s brought major brands to Myspace and is on his way to creating a slate of engaging and relevant content for the online community. Roger‘s impressive track record at Fox speaks for itself, and his addition to our growing leadership team continues to build strong and positive momentum for Myspace.”

Mincheff joins Myspace from Fox Filmed Entertainment where he served as senior VP of branded entertainment. During his tenure, he helped launch and run branded entertainment – monetising digital content across the company‘s extensive portfolio of film and television production entities.

Mincheff said, “As a proven discovery platform, Myspace has the ability to tap into the best up-and-coming talent, as well as distribute content to millions of viewers seeking fresh entertainment. People are looking to discover the next big thing – and brands like Fox and KIA have a track-record for connecting with that audience, so the opportunity for Myspace Entertainment to bridge this gap is huge.”

Mincheff will also serve as Specific Media president of original programming home to digital series ‘Jen and Barb, Mom Life‘.

NEW DELHI: The cable television sector should be given the status of ‘information infrastructure’ for smoother transition from analogue to digital technology and foreign direct investment in the cable TV distribution sector should be increased from 49 per cent to 74 per cent, the Confederation of Indian Industry has said.

In its demands relating to cable TV digitisation, CII said giving the new status to the sector would bring the cable TV sector on parity with other infrastructure sectors in the way taxes are levied and bank credit dispersed. It noted that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had already accepted the need to raise the FDI.

India‘s cable TV infrastructure is set for complete digitisation by the end of December 2014 and the four Indian metros (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata) by 30 June this year.

The industry body said an estimated Rs 250 billion has to be invested by the cable distribution sector to digitise 90 million cable homes in the next three years. There are over 40 million direct-to-home TV homes in the country.

CII strongly recommends certain measures to be undertaken by the government to enable the transition and said these had been accepted by Trai.

All service providers who set up a digital addressable distribution system before the sunset date to be notified in stages over a three-year period should be treated at par with Telecom Service Providers and be eligible for income tax holiday from 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2019.

The basic customs duty on digital head-end and set-top boxes should be reduced to zero for three years to give boost to digital conversion.

The double charge of service tax and entertainment tax should be subsumed in GST in due course.

It noted that the cable TV industry was nervous as over 10 million cable TV homes in the four metros have to shift to the digital medium by buying a set-top-box in the next 135 days and key decisions are pending before the government.

“It is very critical to extend financial incentives and tax holidays to the cable TV distribution and DTH sector,’’ said CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee.

“There has been a consensus for digitisation and everyone in the value chain – the government, broadcaster, multi system operator, local cable operator and consumer – will benefit from this. It is a big challenge and if executed properly it will transform the broadcast sector, bring transparency and give freedom to consumers.”

Maintaining that digitisation will boost broadband penetration in the country, CII said that government should accelerate pending decisions to stop ‘murmurs in the industry’ for extension of timelines for cable TV digitisation. CII feels that if India misses digitisation execution now, it may not be possible to do this for a long time.

MUMBAI: Service Uncle, the Australian B2B and B2C portal that provides information on a wide range of services and service providers in any city across the globe, has announced the launch of its India operations.

Service Uncle Australia managing director Rajesh Nagpal said, “Over the years, India has emerged as a significant market, that too quite rapidly. With the availability of various products and changing life style, consumers are looking for a resource, from where they can avail service related information at click of a button or just by dialing one number. In view of extending our offering to the Indian consumers and to make their life easier, we have decided to venture into the Indian geography. Today, the availability of service related information in India is highly disorganized. With one of its kind offering, I am sure people would find lot of value in our platform.”

The information on the portal is divided service category-wise, service provider-wise and service area-wise. It also has features like ‘get information on email’, ‘get information on sms’, in the form of online search assistance for services

The company is inviting free listings from service providers across the country. One can register under various services categories – Courier services, AC repair, plumbing leakage, car repair, legal services, catering services, pet care services, maid services, financial services, travel services, handyman services, education services, healthcare services, real estate services, contracting, consultancy, etc.

Apart from free listing, service providers can also advertise by choosing from options like banner or display ad. Service Uncle also mascot and rap style theme song.

MUMBAI: Silicon Image, a leading provider of wireless and wired HD connectivity solutions, has announced the opening of its newest research and development (R&D) centre in Hyderabad to tap into the growing Indian market.

Opened on 27 January, the facility located in Hyderabad’s technology hub focuses on the design and development of semiconductor and IP core technologies for implementation in mobile, wireless and consumer electronics (CE) products from manufacturers across the globe.

“The technology innovation and growth occurring in Hyderabad made the location a natural fit for Silicon Image’s expanding R&D portfolio,” said Silicon Image Inc vice president of worldwide engineering Rashid Osmani.

“The expertise of Silicon Image’s worldwide engineering team has been strengthened by the addition of the talented engineers in Hyderabad, who we foresee becoming an integral part of new product development.”

That company asserts that its technologies are used by nine of the top 10 television manufacturers in the world.

The Silicon Image India R&D centre expands the company‘s current worldwide R&D operations which include facilities in Sunnyvale, CA, USA and Shanghai, China. The India office currently has 80 employees.

NEW DELHI: NDTV today announced an exclusive partnership with The Art of Living Foundation spearheaded by Ravi Shankar, India’s prominent spiritual leader.

NDTV will have the exclusive right to use Shankar’s teachings, sermons and meditation across all mobile platforms including video and live chats.

NDTV Convergence deputy CEO and managing editor Suparna Singh said, “We look forward to sharing Sri Sri’s messages -video and audio – through a dedicated The Art of Living application and other digital platforms. Sri Sri’s activism against corruption is leading to even higher interest among Indians across the world in his beliefs and opinions.”
The dedicated voice portal can be accessed by Airtel users on 507858 and will soon be live across other operators as well. There will also be monthly Live Chats with Shankar for Airtel users.

The new guidelines introduced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India are encouraging operators to look for credible and genuine content in the VAS space. NDTV over the next few months will bring the user experience and innovation it is known for to a host of new products for mobile and other platforms.

One of the trustees of Sri Sri Publications Trust, Prasana Prabhu said, “Today’s world is stifled with stress and violence. It’s our aim to bring knowledge to the people that would help them get rid of all negativities and make spirituality a part of their lives. With NDTV Convergence we have got a credible and reputed nationwide platform to reach out to masses at large.”

MUMBAI: Times Internet Ltd (TIL) has launched Tweek, a first of its kind magazine for tablet users.

Tweek can be accessed via the iPad and will soon be launched for the iPhone and Android devices. The application has been developed in partnership with cloud-based mobile publishing company GENWI.

“Tweek offers its readers an unparalleled experience in terms of interactivity, customisation and usability. Its content will be kept fresh and relevant by the large database of content available within the TIL network. With its launch, we intend to pioneer the tablet magazine space in India,” said TIL CEO Rishi Khiani.

The weekly magazine will offer content with an urban perspective. Tweek will feature stories from around the world across business, entertainment, lifestyle and sport.

Furthermore, Tweek’s interactive format will allow readers to not just share stories through social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter, but also share their feedback with the Tweek team. Tweek also enables the reader to not just read a story, but also listen to, watch it and, thus, experience the content.

Khiani added that TIL is interested in experimenting with different ways to monetise the content beyond traditional web advertising. “Taking advantage of this new medium — that incorporates the rich engagement features of the web into a mobile touch experience on a larger screen — we can deliver new advertising concepts.”

GENWI founder and CEO PJ Gurumohan said, “With the power of the cloud, Tweek will save time and production costs by reusing design layouts from week to week, all in standard web-based protocols such as HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. But, the most groundbreaking aspect of the application is the way it surfaces existing content and takes full advantage of the tablet experience to create higher levels of reader engagement and the flexibility to explore new monetisation channels.”

MUMBAI: Fastway Transmissions, the cable distribution company with foothold in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, has signed a pact with Cisco to deploy over two million next-generation digital set-top boxes (STBs) over the next two years.

Fastway MD Gurdeep Singh said, “Unlike direct-to-home players we do not charge our consumers upfront for set-top-boxes. The cost is recovered over multiple years. Cisco Capital has helped us with a great financing option that matched our cash flows.”

Cisco said that it is one of the largest cable digitisation projects in the country, and that its STBs comes at an “affordable price point” with an “optimum feature” set to suit Indian preferences.

Fastway, a major player in Punjab and Haryana, believes it can up its subscription revenue through interactive services. With the new STBs, Fastway can enable services like residential TV, HDTV, gaming, digital video recording, video on demand and future ‘connected home‘ services to retail consumers.

Fastway CEO Peeush Mahajan said, “By utilising Cisco‘s next generation digital set top box, we can enhance the quality of our services, curb piracy and increase our subscription revenue by offering a plethora of innovative and interactive services giving us the competitive edge over direct-to-home players. Cisco‘s technology leadership and their understanding of the complexities of the cable distribution business helped them cement this deal.”

Cisco India and SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) senior VP, Service Providers Sanjay Rohatgi said, “Today‘s consumers want their television viewing to be personal, social and an interactive experience. They want content to be delivered anytime, anywhere and on any device. Digitisation opens a huge opportunity for cable service providers to monetize investments, and evolve as ‘experience providers‘. I am happy that Fastway has taken a pioneering role in ushering digitisation and I look forward to a long standing relationship with them.”

Cisco‘s cable digitisation solutions provide scaling and operational cost optimisation benefits that cable operators need to transition to a digital platform, apart from being able to take advantage of Cisco Capital‘s leasing and finance options.

Fastway plans to provide broadband services and is currently working with universities and institutes in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to offer educational services.

Cisco Asia Pacific director video architecture Vish Iyer added, “With Cisco‘s Connected Home Solutions portfolio, Fastway can evolve from a cable distribution company to a lifestyle-experience provider by enabling services like residential TV, HDTV, gaming, video on demand and broadband services to retail consumers. We are excited about this opportunity and look forward to working with Fastway in offering its consumers tailor-made entertainment and services that suit the regional tastes and preferences.”

MUMBAI: Media Networks Latin America (MNLA) has signed a long-term capacity deal with Satellite operator SES to expand its pay-TV service across Central America and the Caribbean.

As part of the deal, MNLA, a unit of Telefonica Digital, has secured multiple transponders on SES‘ AMC-4 satellite in order to launch a new DTH wholesale pay-TV service reaching new audiences with a combined lineup of international and regional SD and HD channels.

The SES spacecraft AMC-4, located at 67 degrees West, allows MNLA to meet the DTH demand in Central America and the Caribbean as well as other future growth markets with its existing ground infrastructure, including its teleport in Lima, Peru.

AMC-4 was deployed at 67 degrees West in 2010 and provides expansion capacity in Latin America for a broad range of applications, such as rural telecommunications, VSAT networks, e-learning, pay-TV and mobile broadband. With the relocation of AMC-3 to 67 degrees West at the end of February, SES is further strengthening and complementing its coverage and offering from this orbital position.

“SES has the ideal coverage, spectrum and unmatched DTH experience to expand into new markets throughout Latin America,” said MNLA CTO Pedro Planas. “Our long-term agreement with SES represents a strategic partnership aimed at meeting the increasing demand from our customers, the existing and new pay-TV operators in the region, and will allow us to continue offering a growing lineup of content.”

“Teaming up with MNLA is of high strategic importance for us,” said SES chief commercial officer Ferdinand Kayser. “It is further proof that satellite can ideally complement and strengthen the offer of telecommunications companies. As a leader in DTH broadcasting with large geographical coverage and high quality linear video delivery, SES sees itself as a perfect partner for telecommunications companies, connecting interactive and television services. SES is committed to the long-term success, growth and innovation of such services throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. We look forward to playing an important role in the expansion and future growth of Media Networks Latin America‘s DTH business in Central America, the Caribbean and beyond.”