Category: Software

MUMBAI:Digital consumers in Spain are to have more access to British television content after BBC Worldwide announced content deals with Spanish digital platforms Telefonica, Youzee and Cameo.

Cameo has acquired almost 170 hours of content for their VoD platform Filmin including comedy and drama titles ‘Katy Brand‘s Big Ass Show‘, ‘The Thick of It‘, ‘The Shadow Line‘, ‘Life on Mars‘ and ‘Wallander‘.

Telefonica has launched its new VOD service with over 260 hours of BBC Worldwide content across drama, documentary and childrens. ‘Doctor Who‘, ‘Sherlock‘, ‘Clerkenwell’s Misfits‘ and ‘Torchwood: Miracle Day‘ will all be available to view. Childrens programme ‘Charlie And Lola‘ and factual titles ‘Amazon with Bruce Parry‘, ‘Polar Bear – Spy on the Ice‘, ‘Earth Under Water‘ and ‘Louis Theroux: Hunting‘ are also available through Telefonica.

BBC Worldwide will be a launch partner for new VOD platform Youzee, supplying 65 hours of content across comedy and drama. Acquired titles include the Ricky Gervais comedy Extras, the Emmy-nominated drama Luther (S1&2), Upstairs Downstairs and Pride & Prejudice.

BBC Worldwide VP business development, digital – sales and distribution Gary Woolf commented, “Digital sales are a key focus for our business and these Spanish deals are further evidence of the growth we continue to see throughout EMEA and globally.”

BBC Worldwide will be hosting a dedicated digital day for the first time at BBC Worldwide Showcase 2012 from 26 – 29 February, the distributor’s bespoke four-day TV export market, featuring speakers from digital players including Netflix and Miso.

MUMBAI: US media conglomerate CBS‘ subsidiary Showtime Networks has launched the Showtime Anytime iPad app, offered free to its subscribers through the network‘s cable, satellite and telco affiliates.

Showtime Anytime gives subscribers the flexibility to watch more than 400 hours of programming, movies and sports offerings online, whenever and wherever they‘d like to watch it – at home, at ‘The Office‘, or on the go.

The app is available for download now in the iTunes App Store http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id484232467.

Showtime subscribers will need to present credentials supplied by their television provider to watch programmes on Showtime Anytime. Once a user has been authenticated as a Showtime subscriber, they will be able to browse the service on their iPads or online at http://www.showtimeanytime.com. Showtime Anytime iPhone and Android applications will be available early this year.

AT&T U-Verse and Verizon Fiox customers can now enjoy Showtime programming online or on their iPads, as the distributors become the newest affiliates to offer Showtiem Anytime.

Comcast customers can also access the service through Xfinity TV‘s online service at XfinityTV.com, and the Showtime Anytime app will be launched soon t their subscribers. Additional participating MSOs will be announced at a later date.

Showtime Anytime offers subscribers access to the network‘s series including ‘Dexter‘, ‘Weeds‘, ‘Homeland‘, ‘Californication‘, ‘Shameless‘, ‘Nurse Jackie‘ and ‘ The Big C‘. Subscribers will also have access to movies, including The King‘s Speech‘, ‘Blue Valentine‘, ‘The Hurt Locker‘ and ‘Inglorious Basterds‘.

Additionally, comedy specials, documentaries, and sports programming including Inside Nascar, ShoBox: The New Generation and Strikeforce mixed martial arts, will be offered on Showtime Anytime.

ShowtimeAnytime.com and its iPad app provide users with an intuitive navigation that makes it easy to find, catch-up on and discover Showtime programs. The “My List” feature enables subscribers to customise their viewing experience, by creating a personalised list of programmes to watch.

Subscribers can also opt to have new episodes of their favourite showtime series automatically added to “My List” as they premiere on the network. The “play shifting” option allows subscribers to pause a program on one device and pick up where they left off on another. Users can also ‘like‘ or ‘follow‘ Showtime series on Facebook and Twitter, and ‘share‘ or ‘Tweet‘ about episodes.

Showtime Anytime will not only enhance Showtime subscribers‘ experience, but also complement their existing viewing habits. Research shows that premium subscribers time shift more than the average consumer. For most Showtime series, almost half of the weekly viewing takes place via DVR or On Demand.

MUMBAI: Flixster, which operates a movie community service, has announced its popular movie application will be available this year on Panasonic‘s line of Viera Connect devices including HDTVs and Blu–ray players. By launching this new Flixster app, consumers will be able to watch and enjoy their UltraViolet movies and TV shows.

Flixster is a movie discovery application on mobile platforms with over 50 million downloads to date, including Android, Blackberry and iPad, and ranks among the most downloaded of iPhone apps of all time.

Flixster provides access to UltraViolet, a new industry standard that gives consumers flexibility with how and where they watch the movies and TV shows they purchase. UltraViolet also allows consumers to share their entire UltraViolet digital library with other members on their account, and they can even watch the same title simultaneously from different locations.

Flixster president Steve Polsky said, “Bringing UltraViolet to the living room will make it easy for consumers to enjoy their UltraViolet–enabled movies and TV shows. One of the great benefits of UltraViolet is the ability to watch your content whenever and wherever you want. If you‘re at a friend‘s house with a VIERA device, you can easily access your collection by simply logging into Flixster.”

Viera Connect is Panasonic‘s Smart TV platform which enables owners of Viera Connect–enabled HDTVs, Blu–ray Disc Players and Home Theater Systems access to a wide range of Internet–based video–on–demand content and applications covering everything from news and fitness, to social networking and online gaming.

Viera Connect requires no external box or PC and is accessed via a single button on the television remote control.

Panasonic VP of interactive content and services Merwan Mereby said, “Panasonic‘s Viera Connect Smart TV platform‘s singular focus to deliver to our consumers an extremely robust and interactive connected TV experience that can be customized and enjoyed on their large–screen HDTVs. We are delighted to add Flixster to our Viera Connect Smart TV platform in 2012. Partnering with a Hollywood powerhouse like Warner Bros. Entertainment to integrate their highly popular Flixster movie application into our VIERA Connect platform is another great step in our efforts to continuously drive the connected TV experience to a whole new level for consumers.”

MUMBAI: Pace, which creates technologies, software, hardware and services for the broadcast and broadband industries, has announced that it has signed a partnership deal with DBS Satellite Services ‘Yes‘, the Satellite Broadcasting company in Israel.

Under the agreement, Pace will provide new platforms to enable Yes to deploy advanced high definition (HD) digital services, including HD Video on Demand, to its customers.

As part of the agreement, Pace, a developer of technologies, products and services for global broadband and broadcast markets, has already initiated roll-out of a HD set-top box to Yes customers.

The HD set-top box will incorporate advanced services, allowing Yes to upgrade cost effectively in the field. In addition, the set-top box is capable of being interactive and means Yes subscribers can enjoy payTV applications such as HD Video on Demand over Ethernet connection.

Regional Pace president Mark Loughran said, “This is an exciting time for Yes and Pace to be working together to develop and deploy HD services across Israel via devices which put end users‘ needs for simplicity and user-friendliness at their core.”

Yes CEO Ron Eilon said, “The Yes team is impressed by the professionalism and dedication of the experienced Pace engineering team and view this as the start of strong relationship. There is an increasing demand for VOD and HD television in Israel, and we selected Pace to support our project as Pace has a proven track record of delivering industry leading technology solutions and expertise, both essential to positioning ourselves at the forefront of innovation.”

MUMBAI: Online job portal TimesJobs has revamped its website with a new homepage that offers easy navigation, informed selections and ease of access.

TimesJobs.com VP Amit Jain said, “A host of features give job-seekers a clutter free home page experience with intuitive navigation and faster downloads. We hope these improvements encourage job-seekers to fine tune their resumes, enhance their job-search and apply to corporates that are in high demand.”

Many modifications and tweaks throughout the website have led to a 50 per cent improvement in the downloading speed of the site. There are enhanced headers, new floating navigation bar, the user login form and the profile snippet box.

The Enhanced Tabbed Header offers viewing second level navigation by simple mouse over- informing users of further selections. This feature is applicable across site and makes TimesJobs navigation clean and lets users get a preview of what to expect on the next page.

The new ‘Floating Nav Bar‘ is the one that flashes on the bottom of the screen across site. It comprises critical navigation options that offer ease of job search to both logged-in and unregistered users.

There is a new ‘User Log-in Form‘ which is a prominent box on the top right hand side of the homepage that lets users login to their TimesJobs‘ account right away.

With the help of the new ‘Profile Snippet Box‘, Logged-in users can view their profile information on the home page itself – essentially a condensed personalised summary. This box also facilitates them to update their profile details and view customised recommendations without having to visit multiple pages.

“Our research showed that the above data fields are critical to a jobseeker‘s success in finding a matching job, and having them put succinctly in a single box makes it very easy to access,” Jain added.

MUMBAI: UK-based Cellcast PLC, a leading provider of participatory television programming and interactive telephony technology for the fast growing cross-platform digital entertainment sector, has parted with a majority stake to two private equity firms in Cellcast Asia Holdings, Mauritius (CAH).

CAH wholly owns the India outfit, Cellcast Interactive India.

Sources familiar with the development said while the PE firms will hold around 62 per cent in CAH, Cellcast PLC ( listed in UK) will reduce to a small minority. The management team of Cellcast Interactive India will have a bigger stake than Cellcast PLC but Indiantelevision.com couldn‘t confirm the exact holdings.

“Cellcast PLC has become a minority partner. The management team has roped in a new investor in the second round of funding,” said Cellcast Asia Holdings founder and CEO Pankaj Thakar.

Vertex, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, has participated in the second round of funding. CAH has raised $9.5 million in the fresh round of funding. Canaan Partners, which manages capital of $3.5 billion, had pumped in $5.25 million in the first round.

Cellcast Interactive India has launched a new and one-of-its-kind social TV channel, MyTV. It will bring about interactivity across three platforms – television, Internet (including social media platforms) and mobile. Viewers participating in any show will be able to see interactions from other mediums as well as in real time.

“We have an investment outlay of Rs 750 million for MyTV,” said Thakar.

The programming of the channel will remain ad free but the content will be created in such a way that brands can be integrated into it.

MyTV is being made available across the western, eastern and northern belts of the country. The company has already done distribution deals with Hathway, Airtel Digital TV and Reliance Digital TV apart from independent operators in Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Punjab markets.

“Our aim is to reach to over 35 million analogue and digital homes in the first phase itself,” Cellcast COO – Television Ashutosh said.

The channel aims at reaching out to varied audiences in the 15+ age group.

Ashutosh added, “Our vision of creating MyTV was to offer consumers another interactive platform where the multiple mediums can be integrated to offer an enhanced experience. Our viewers are our customers, thus the value delivered by this channel needs to be so much more. Also, by eliminating ad breaks on MyTV, our audience will be more engaged on this unique interactive approach to entertainment. Each of our shows are independent properties with separate online and offline revenue streams.”

BAG Network is the official distribution partner of Cellcast’s MyTV, especially across the Hindi-speaking belt in India.

The channel features over 20 hours of programming with shows like Bid2Win, My Studio, The Big Deal and Chor Machaye Shor, among others.

Additionally, MyTV has signed actors like Aman Verma, Swapnil Joshi and Sudha Chandran to host some of its properties.

Thakar said, “Cellcast is a pioneer in the business of interactive television. With a change in the profile of the television audience over the last few years, there has been a shift in the way the younger audience wants to interact with content they see on television. MyTV will fill this void by offering viewers an opportunity to connect and interact with content actively rather than just view it as passive participants.”

MUMBAI: Reliance Entertainment and Playtone have tied up with Internet major Yahoo! for Tom Hanks‘ multi-dimensional animated series ‘Electric City‘.

As the exclusive online broadcast home for ‘Electric City‘, Yahoo! will bring Hanks‘ vision and storytelling this year to a global audience.

Reliance Group vice chairman Amitabh Jhunjhunwala said, “Electric City is the first of its kind, a clutter-breaking, global 360 digital project. Working with Tom and Playtone has been an amazing experience and this series could not have been possible without Tom‘s vision and creativity. We also feel that with its reach and technology, Yahoo! is the best distribution partner for this project. ‘Electric City‘ reinforces Reliance‘s commitment to invest and innovate in the global entertainment industry. We will continue to create more global and multi-platform digital projects involving top Hollywood talent.”

Set in a futuristic society, ‘Electric City‘ is a new 90- minute action-packed sci-fi adventure series, and marks Yahoo!‘s first foray into original scripted programming. ‘Electric City‘ was created by and stars Tom Hanks.

Yahoo! executive VP Americas Ross Levinsohn said, “‘Electric City‘ is a thought-provoking and engaging series and we are thrilled to be partnering with Playtone and Reliance Entertainment to bring Tom Hanks‘ vision to the world on Yahoo! for the first time. ‘Electric City‘ is so much more than just an online video series — it is an interactive and immersive experience from one of the world‘s biggest stars and premier storytellers.

“Yahoo! has clearly established itself as the go-to destination for big events and breaking news and we are focused on providing the best digital canvas for the world‘s greatest storytellers to create, develop and showcase their visions. ‘Electric City‘ is further proof that we want to set the bar in premium online content and be the global home for groundbreaking ventures from the world‘s best-known and next-generation artists.”

‘Electric City‘ will be shown as a multi-part series on Yahoo!, and will be supported by a deeply immersive and interactive online experience that enhances the drama, mystery and intrigue of the series.

Playtone‘s Gary Goetzman said, “It was always our intent to have this project live and breathe online and we felt Yahoo! would be the perfect home.”

Yahoo!‘s interactive and social features will allow viewers to:

— Navigate non-linearly and learn more about the world of “Electric City” through a 3-D interactive map

— Dig deeper into character back-stories and learn about the cast behind the characters‘ voices

— Watch exclusive behind-the-scenes footage

— Post reactions and commentary directly to Facebook and Twitter

— Engage members of their social networks in discussions and debates about societal themes, events and characters and/or join the larger “Electric City” community discussion

— Engage in casual games and other content related to the series

‘Electric City‘ will also live across multiple devices and comes enabled for tablet and connected TV. The series will be punctuated by special events, such as opportunities to watch exclusive content and to interact with the cast and creators.

The series will also be available in numerous languages, including French and Spanish.

With 700 million users worldwide, Yahoo! provides the massive scale that Hollywood is looking for.

‘Electric City‘ complements Yahoo!‘s portfolio of original online premium video programming which provides marketers with the opportunity to align their brands with premium content across the Yahoo! network.

MUMBAI: Panasonic US and the NBC Sports Group will partner to make the London 2012 Olympic Games available in 3D to all US distributors who carry Olympic coverage on cable, satellite and telco — nearly 100 per cent of the multichannel industry.

The effort will mark the first time that the Olympic Games will be distributed in the US in 3D.

Panasonic is NBC‘s exclusive Flat-Panel HDTV and Blu-ray Disc Player advertiser for the London Olympic Games.

A long time Official Worldwide Olympic Partner in the Audio and Visual Equipment category, Panasonic had last year
announced it would partner with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) to make the London 2012 Olympic Games the first ever 3D Olympic Games.

NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel said, “NBC has a history of utilising technological innovations to distribute the Olympics in new ways for viewers. We are proud to continue that tradition by partnering with Panasonic and Olympic Broadcasting Services to distribute the first 3D broadcast of the Games in the U.S. in partnership with our multichannel video programming distributors.”

The 3D broadcasts, which will be produced by OBS and shown on next-day delay, will span multiple competitions throughout the London 2012 Olympic Games, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, gymnastics, diving and swimming.

OBS will produce more than 200 hours of 3D coverage during the London 2012 Olympic Games by utilising Panasonic‘s state-of-art 3D production technologies including the AG-3DP1, a P2HD professional fully-integrated twin-lens Full HD 3D camera recorder.

Cable, satellite, and telco providers who receive the Olympics package may distribute the 3D broadcast via the Comcast Media Center.

Panasonic US chairman, CEO Joseph M. Taylor said, “As a recognised leader in end-to-end 3D technology solutions and longtime Olympic sponsor, Panasonic is very excited to be partnering with the NBC Sports Group which is a leader and trailblazer in Olympic broadcasting. Panasonic‘s expertise in 3D technology coupled with NBC‘s unrivaled leadership in coverage of the Olympic Games will deliver to home viewers an unprecedented 3D Olympic experience that will make them feel as though they are right there with the world‘s finest athletes as they compete. Full HD 3D is ideal for capturing the true spectacle of Olympic competition and the pageantry of Olympic ceremonies, and we are excited to be able to bring it to fans across the US.”

MUMBAI: Natpe Content First, the US-based media marketplace, and its CEO Rick Feldman, have announced the 2012 recipients of its third annual Digital Luminary Awards.

Based on six categories, the awards honor the innovative people and companies who act as catalysts in the content revolution.

Recipients in categories ranging from Branded Entertainment Series to Online Video Personality will be honoured during an awards presentation, followed by a champagne toast, hosted by Alex Albrecht of Fat Dolphin on 25 January during NATPE 2012.

The event will also be streamed live at www.natpemarket.com/digilumi.

Feldman said, “Each year, digital media continues to redefine itself and mature in terms of content, brand integration and talent. Natpe is proud to recognize the 2012 Digital Luminary Awards honorees as they lead the charge in uniting the world of media in a truly exciting way.”

The 2012 recipients are as follows:

Brand Leadership in Online Video: Honouring a brand that has shown repeated commitment to funding original online entertainment content that is engaging, unique and successful in reaching a core online audience.

Honoree: NASA: Juno

Nasa has made strides in the digital documentary world, largely because of Mission Juno, an interactive digital documentary designed to change the way the public perceives space. Translating complex scientific data into a clear and compelling narrative of space exploration, the Mission Juno website engages visitors in a visual experience that allows them to track, explore and learn about NASA’s
mission to Jupiter.

Branded Entertainment Series: Recognizing excellence in an original online video series that is funded primarily through a brand sponsor.

Honoree: Leap Year

‘Leap Year‘ is a 10-episode original comedy series about five newbie startup founders competing for $500,000 in funding. The series was produced by CJP Digital Media for Hiscox Small Business Insurance to raise awareness among entrepreneurs for the company’s suite of online business insurance tools. The first season garnered critical acclaim, 5 million organic views, 100 million earned media impressions and 40,000 active social media followers, 66 percent of which self-identify as being among the brand’s target audience.

Online Video Personality: Honoring an online video personality that has built a significant audience and continues to engage and entertain them in unique ways.

Honoree: Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere

Charlie Todd creates, produces and directs viral videos. In 2001 Todd founded Improv Everywhere (IE), a New York City-based prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. It is now the largest network of “pranksters” ever assembled. IE videos have been viewed more than 170 million times on YouTube.

Original Web Content in a Drama Series: Recognising excellence in creation of an original dramatic web series that has broken through and achieved critical and financial success in the past year.

Honoree: Aim High

‘Aim High‘ is about a top agent for the US Government…who is 16 years old. The series is recognised for its production quality, strong performances and tremendous writing, and is a good example of delivering edgy, clever material online. This series is produced by Warner Premiere and Dolphin Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Digital Distribution and was distributed exclusively on Facebook
and Cambio.com.

Original Web Content in a Comedy Series: Recognizing excellence in creation of an original comedy web series that has broken through and achieved critical and financial success in the past year.

Honoree: Wainy Days

‘Wainy Days‘ is one of the longest-running, most popular, original comedy series online. This My Damn Channel exclusive by writer, actor and director David Wain, has been viewed more than 17 million times. Wainy Days has received top honors such as “Best Comedy Series” for the 2008 and 2009 Webby Awards, and was honored with “Best Guest
Appearance” (Paul Rudd) at the 2009 Streamy Awards.

Leadership in the Digital Category: Recognizing the commitment and investment in the creation and distribution of online content.

Honoree: Yahoo!

Yahoo delivers premium content experiences across screens at scale. With a longtime commitment to original video programming, Yahoo has 12 of the top 12 original video shows online and the most successful online show in history, ‘Primetime in No Time‘, boasting over half a billion streams.

NEW DELHI: Doordarshan has earned revenue of Rs 736.1 million from the e-auction of 29 slots to private broadcasters on the country’s only free-to-air direct-to-home (DTH) platform, DD Direct Plus.

This is over three times per slot DD charged broadcasters for being carried on DD Direct Plus, going up from Rs 8 million last time to Rs 25.35 million. The amount generated before migrating to the e-auction mechanism six months earlier had stood at Rs 168 million from 21 television channels.

The public broadcaster is now expected to put on auction another 87 slots within the next few months as it increases its capacity from 59 to 150 channels.

DD sources told indiantelevision.com that the pubcaster hoped to make around Rs three billion before 31 March 2012.

Prasar Bharati has conducted the e-auctions in two batches with participation from over 45 private media companies.

In the first leg of auctions, the minimum reserve price per slot was Rs 15 million which was raised to Rs 21.7 million, the lowest successful bid in the first e-auction. Even after the substantial hike in the minimum reserve price in the second-leg of e-auctions, as many as eight broadcasters showed up, of which five become successful.

The highest slot price in the second set of auctions stood at Rs 35 million, 55 per cent higher than the previous highest of Rs 22.5 million that the first auction had fetched in July-end.

In both the e-auctions, the lowest successful bids were 42-44 per cent more than the minimum reserve price while the highest bids on both occasions were 50-55 per cent above the minimum reserve price.

The e-auction was adopted after some private channels challenged the decision of Prasar Bharati last year to remove them without assigning valid and acceptable reasons. The Court then asked the public broadcaster to adopt a transparent system for allocation of slots.

This is the second time that e-auction has worked to the advantage of the national exchequer, the first being 3G and BWA auctions which brought in record revenue. It has now been decided to consider adoption of the e-auction model for programming of slots on Doordarshan as well.

The e-auctions were conducted by NCDEX Spot, Mumbai, an online trading firm. All channels, which had applied for slots or whose agreements were expiring on 30 June 2011, had been asked to participate in the e-auction by depositing a bank guarantee of Rs 15 million.