Category: Software

MUMBAI: Social networking site, Facebook, has filed for an historical $5 billion IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission in United States, making it one of the biggest in the Internet industry.

Analysts though predict the IPO to raise as much as $10 billion which would value the company at a mind-boggling $100 billion, and will dwarf the 2004 IPO of search engine giant Google Inc which raised $1.67 billion.

At $10 billion, the IPO would be fourth-largest in U.S. history after Visa Inc, General Motors, and AT&T Wireless, according to Thomson Reuters.

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. The company also revealed in its filing that it had earned 85 per cent of its revenue from advertising last year while social-gaming company Zynga, creator of Farmville, accounted for 12 per cent of total revenues.

The IPO would increase the fortune of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg who would be worth $28 billion at a $100 billion valuation with an economic control of about 28 per cent of the shares, thereby ranking him as the fourth-richest American.

Indications are that he would keep an iron grip over the company even after the IPO, which analysts fear would mean little say for investors in the management of the company.

As Facebook states in its prospectus, Zuckerberg will “control all matters submitted to stockholders for vote, as well as the overall management and direction of our company.”

Other major shareholders in Facebook include Accel Partners with 11.4 per cent of the investor votes and co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, who holds 7.6 per cent voting power, Facebook employees have majority stake at 30 per cent besides a host of institutions and small investors.

Facebook‘s stock would trade under the symbol FB on either the Nasdaq Stock Market or the New York Stock Exchange. The company plans to use the proceeds for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

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.

With consumers shifting their preference to smartpphones and tablets as the preferred medium of accessing content, Facebook has turned its focus to the mobile technology, which it expects would bring in its next 1 billion users.

NEW DELHI: High Definition digital cable set-top boxes (STBs) from Cisco are to be rolled out by Gujarat Telelink Private Ltd. (GTPL) in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA).

Ahmedabad-based GTPL, a multi-system operator where Hathway Cable & Datacom has an equal stake, said this move will revolutionise consumer entertainment in the state and enable subscribers to experience superior HD TV along with other services such as DVR (digital video recording), HD gaming, VoD (Video on demand) and future Connected Home services to consumers.

GTPL had acquired a 51 per cent stake in Kolkata Cable and Broadband Pariseva to set foot in West Bengal.

GTPL and Cisco will work together to usher in cable digitisation across the key states of Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam and Jharkhand to deploy digital STBs, both HD and SD, in these markets.

GTPL managing director Anirudh Sinh Jadeja said: “We see tremendous potential in the eastern region. GTPL-KCBPL has been a very successful joint venture and we have attained a leadership position in Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) in a short timeframe. Our partners and consumers have shown tremendous faith in us. With the introduction of HD TV, we hope to further enhance consumer entertainment and increase satisfaction. We are proud to be one of the first players to rollout digitalisation in KMA, in line with the digitisation drive by Government of India. And we believe, that with digitisation, our partners and viewers stand to benefit from more opportunities, products and value.”

Sandeep Arora, VP, service provider, Cisco India & SAARC, added: “Our engagement with GTPL has the potential to transform cable industry in India. Cisco offers an End-to-End portfolio of cable solutions – from content acquisition to distribution to consumer TV – and hence is uniquely positioned in the market. In line with our commitment to our customers, we have developed an innovative business model for GTPL, which will allow them to benefit immensely from digitization and offer several new improved services to its consumers.”

MUMBAI: BBC and Sky have announced a partnership deal that will bring the BBC’s popular video-on-demand service BBC iPlayer to up to five million Sky homes in 2012.

The announcement means that later this year BBC iPlayer will be available to Sky homes directly on the living room TV. Using BBC iPlayer, audiences will enjoy the full complement of BBC programmes in a familiar, easy-to-use BBC iPlayer experience that helps audiences catch up on what they missed and discover new programmes to enjoy.

A core BBC value is to reach all audiences on a universal basis, so Sky’s plan to make Anytime+ available to customers regardless of their Internet provider is an important development in helping to bring BBC iPlayer to around 5 million new homes in 2012 – at no extra charge.

BBC iPlayer has proven hugely popular with UK audiences since launching in 2007, delivering a record two billion TV and radio programmes in 2011. In addition to enjoying BBC iPlayer on the PC, audiences now have total freedom to catch up on BBC programmes on the TV, on mobile phones, and on tablets too.

This deal builds on a substantial history of industry partnerships that have brought BBC iPlayer to platforms like Virgin Media, BT Vision, FreeSat, Freeview, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Wii, and hundreds of mobile phones, tablets, and Internet-connected TVs. Launching on Sky Anytime+ completes a picture in which BBC iPlayer is available on every major UK television platform.

BBC DG Mark Thompson said, “Having the BBC and Sky work together to further build on the BBC iPlayer success story can only be fantastic news for audiences. Making BBC iPlayer available on all platforms is key to our commitment to universal access and this agreement takes us one step further towards that goal. I’m delighted to take this first step on a story of innovation for both organisations.”

Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch said, “Sky Anytime+ will go from strength to strength in 2012 and we are delighted that the addition of BBC iPlayer will allow Sky customers to enjoy the best of the BBC whenever they want.”

Launching on December 2007 as a simple catch-up website, BBC iPlayer has helped pioneer TV on demand by offering audiences the opportunity to watch selected TV programmes for up to 7 days after broadcast.

BBC iPlayer has since evolved, adding more TV programmes; including entire series and films, radio programmes, live TV channels & radio station, programme downloads for offline viewing and personalisation features such as Favourites and recommendations.

Variants of BBC iPlayer optimised for smartphones, tablets and connected TVs are also available, allowing audiences to catch-up or watch live wherever they are and on whatever device – offering access on the move over 3G and WiFi , or simple & convenient access via broadband on the living room TV.

NEW DELHI: Tribal Fusion, the global online advertising provider owned by Exponential, is the world‘s second largest source of display advertising, according to comSCORE’s December 2011 rankings of the leading global display networks.

Site reach measurement service comSCORE reported that Tribal Fusion’s premium publisher network reached more than 490 million unique users globally, behind only Google (1.2bn) and just head of AOL Advertising (477m), which includes its Advertising.com ad network subsidiary.

According to a report from Emeryville in California, the company said the new ranking reflected its growing global presence and increased demand from brand advertisers for campaigns that take advantage of its rich-media capabilities to offer more engaging creative executions at scale.

Dilip DaSilva, founder and CEO of Tribal Fusion and parent company Exponential, commented: “Brand advertisers across the globe are increasingly looking for new ways to leverage digital media to connect with their prospective customers and are looking for the same kind of high-impact and emotionally engaging creative messaging that they get from traditional TV advertising.

“Online advertising has primarily been focused on bottom-of-the-funnel acquisition and conversion of customers. But as brands are realizing that their potential customers are spending an increasing amount of time on digital media relative to traditional channels such as television, they are looking for opportunities to drive brand awareness and perception via digital media.”

Founded in 2001, Tribal Fusion has expanded across the globe and now operates offices in 37 locations worldwide including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.

“Digital media can be accessed by visitors in any country, as a result most premium publishers attract a global audience,” said DaSilva. “Through our ability to monetize publisher inventory in so many countries, we have now become the partner of choice for premium publishers in every country.”

MUMBAI: Vh1, the International entertainment channel from the Viacom18 stable, has joined hands with Hungama Mobile to launch ‘Vh1 Radio Gaga‘, a mobile radio service for Bharti Airtel mobile customers.

The service allows users to tune in to international songs at anytime of the day on Airtel. The choice of songs can be made from Vh1‘s four definitive categories – Vh1 Top 10, Vh1 Hip Hop Hustle, Vh1 Rock Rules and Vh1 Classic. The service is priced at Rs 2 per day.

Vh1 India channel head Ferzad Palia said, “We always aimed at providing our audience a platform through which they can listen to their favourite tracks 24×7. Through ‘Vh1 Radio Gaga‘, Airtel subscribers can tune to their favourite song and enjoy the best of Vh1 music on the run.”

Hungama Mobile COO Albert Almeida said, “Historically international music has not been promoted as heavily as other genres of music content. In spite of this consumption of international music on mobile constitutes five per cent to seven per cent of the overall music. This number has largely been on the back off growing interest among the young upwardly mobile audiences who have actively sought this content.”

Through this venture, Vh1 extends its presence beyond television and online media to the mobile platform by providing its fans an experience on the go.

MUMBAI: Direct-to-home (DTH) services provider Tata Sky has added English comedy channel, Comedy Central, on its platform.

Comedy Central, the latest channel from the Viacom18 stable, will be available on channel no 218 on Tata Sky platform in its English Entertainment pack.

Priced at Rs 50 per month, the English Entertainment pack has nine more channels- AXN, BBC Entertainment, Discovery Turbo, Fox Crime, FX, NDTV Good Times, Star World, TLC and Zee Café.

Comedy Central, has a mix of various comedy genres such as sitcoms, stand-up and gags, British comedy, sketch comedy, etc.

The channel‘s programming line-up includes shows such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and South Park along with other global hits such as Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, The Office, Seinfeld, The Wonder Years and That 70s Show.

Tata Sky claims a subscriber base of over 8 million connections.

MUMBAI: Sky Network Tuesday announced plans to launch a new service which will allow consumers across UK to access some of its most popular content over the Internet at a flexible pricing.

Launching in the first half of 2012, the new service will be an additional choice for people who don’t currently subscribe to a pay TV service and will be available across a wide range of connected devices, including PCs, Macs, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, games consoles and connected TVs.

While Sky Movies will be available from launch, other services will expand to offer sport and entertainment soon afterwards.

The company will reveal more details of the new service closer to launch.

Sky has offered television over the Internet for a number of years and in 2006 became the first UK broadcaster to offer content to download over the Internet. The service has since evolved into Sky Go, which is now accessed across millions of Internet-connected devices.

Alongside the new Internet TV service launching this year, Sky Go will continue to develop as a bonus service for existing Sky TV customers, offering access to a wide range of live channels and on demand content.

The launch of a new Internet TV service will complement Sky’s existing pay TV services and open up a wider opportunity to bring its content to more consumers.

Sky chief executive officer Jeremy Darroch said: “This exciting new service will offer some of Sky‘s most popular content through a wide range of broadband connected devices. Alongside the continued growth of our satellite platform, this will be a new way for us to reach out to consumers who love great content, but may not want the full Sky service.Bringing a distinctive, new choice to the marketplace will help us meet the needs and demands of an ever wider range of consumers. This new product launch will build on our early leadership in multi-platform distribution. It will allow us to make our expertise and investment in content and technology work even harder, extending our options for continued growth.”

MUMBAI: Airtel Digital TV, the DTH service from Bharti Airtel, has launched a new interactive educational service for kids, iKidsworld.

The service expands the interactive bouquet offering of Airtel Digital TV and engages kids at every step.

The user interface is designed to make learning enjoyable for the kids, the company said.

The video content of iKidsworld offers activities like stories, hobbies, songs, rhymes, math puzzles, science facts and quizzes.

Powered by Fundoodaa, the content of iKidsworld is designed to enhance a child’s knowledge, pique their curiosity, challenge their thinking and at the same time have an entertainment quotient.

Bharti Airtel CEO DTH/Media Shashi Arora said, “Our objective was to blend the best of television with interactivity and engagement that children seek from the internet. In line with this, we are delighted to launch –iKidsworld, an interactive educational service. We aim to enhance the learning experience of the kids by converting passive television viewing experience to a more active and participative viewing. The interactive user interface has been specifically designed to appeal to today’s kids – who are exposed to multiple cartoon channels content.”

Existing Airtel digital TV subscribers can subscribe for iKidsworld at Rs 30 per month + taxes.

With iKidsworld, Airtel Digital TV now has seven interactive applications as part of its interactive services portfolio- iRadio, iLearn, iDarshan, iGoodlife, iAstro and Parsifal.

MUMBAI: BigFlicks, the Reliance Group’s digital entertainment business, has entered into a movie licensing deal with UTV Motion Pictures for its movie-on-demand service – BigFlix plus.

This deal will make available select blockbuster UTV titles to BigFlix plus subscribers to help expand their personal movie collection whilst simultaneously adding popular titles to the user’s Personal Blockbuster Theatre.

The deal includes movies like Jodhaa Akbar, Wake up Sid, Raajneeti, I Hate Luv Storys, No One Killed Jessica, Dev.D, Udaan, Fashion, Race, and Kaminey amongst others.

UTV Motion Pictures Sr VP, International Distribution and Syndication Amrita Pandey says, “Pay per View (PPV) and Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) options on internet platforms like BigFlix is a great way for audience to watch movies at their convenience. This is the one of our first internet deals in India. BigFlix is one of the first players in this space in India and we are happy to have our movies available for their vast subscriber base.”

BigFlicks COO Pankaj Chandra adds, “It is our constant endeavour to equip consumers with latest blockbuster movies and our partnership with UTV is a step closer to enhance, strengthen and expand the VOD (Video on Demand) service in India. It gives me great pleasure that UTV has partnered with us and is supporting our subscription based initiative and we are confident this partnership with UTV Motion Pictures will add significantly to our movie offering.”

The movies will be available without advertisements, across all devices such as desktop, tablets, smartphones and connected TVs.

MUMBAI: AMC/Sundance Channel Global, which is AMC Networks’ international division, has signed agreements with premier Pay TV platforms across multiple key markets in Europe and Asia for new launches of its international television networks and video-on-demand (VOD) services.

Demonstrating both expansion and the growing demand for its unique brand and programming, Sundance Channel has recently secured additional carriage and is launching for the first time in Portugal while gaining increased distribution through new deals with key cable and broadband systems in Belgium, Poland, France and Taiwan.

Sundance Channel founder Robert Redford said, “It has long been a hope of mine that audiences internationally could experience the creativity and great filmmaking that comes out of Sundance, so I am happy to see the expansion of Sundance Channel Global. Our programming is designed to be inspiring and broaden people‘s perspectives and I‘m looking forward to the channel’s continued international growth over the coming year.”

As announced by AMC/Sundance Channel Global president Bruce Tuchman, Sundance Channel ended the year with a first time ever launch in Portugal with Zon Multimédia, Portugal’s biggest pay TV operator, and is being broadcast in HD and versioned into Portuguese.

It was also announced that Sundance Channel in Belgium is now available on the country’s leading IPTV service, Belgacom TV, which is owned by the country’s largest telecommunications company, Belgacom Group.

The Belgian Sundance Channel is subtitled into versions for both the country’s Flemish and French speakers, and has been made available since 2010 to cable subscribers through the country’s biggest cable TV provider, Liberty Global backed Telenet.

In Poland, the Channel launched on 1 January on IPTV service, SGT S.A., with a 24/7 HD linear broadcast complete with Polish subtitles.

Virgin in France plans to add Sundance Channel to its Virgin Box. Customers will be able to watch a French versioned 24/7 HD channel. Other French consumers already have access to Sundance Channel via Free, Numericable and SFR, among other outlets.

In Asia, the channel is launching on Veetime in Taiwan as a 24/7 linear offering with Mandarin subtitles which represents the third key local platform to carry the channel following deals in the second half of 2011 with the country’s leading IPTV provider, Chunghwa Telecom, as well as Dish TV’s DTH system in Taiwan.

In a follow up to a major deal secured with Telefonica of Spain in 2011, Tuchman also announced that an HD version of its localised Sundance Channel will launch in Spain in mid-January which will be available in addition to the standard definition of the Channel which launched across the country in the fall of last year.

Tuchman said, “These new distribution partnerships reflect the strong appetite for high quality, globally renowned entertainment from audiences and content distributors alike. We are thrilled to offer the outstanding programming of Sundance Channel and WE tv on a wide variety of cutting edge multimedia platforms all over the world and have been especially proud of the performance of the key films that we have offered to our Pay TV subscribers on an on-demand basis during these films’ theatrical exhibition windows.”

Established by Robert Redford, Sundance Channel offers audiences independent films, documentaries and original programmes. It is available to Pay TV operators as a standard and high definition linear television channel, VOD service and via mobile and online authenticated streaming. Additionally, select VOD program offerings are available during theatrical windows so audiences can watch films in the comfort of their own home while films are still in theatres.

AMC/Sundance Channel Global also offers WE tv in Asia, a women’s lifestyle network.