Category: Software

NEW DELHI: Though viewers at present seem reluctant to pay more for content, they will be enticed to do so once value added services like interactivity and digitisation are available.

Speakers on the panel, ‘RoI: Pushing the envelope, models that pay’, said migration to digital format was increased almost by the hour. Indiantelevision.com founder and CEO Anil Wanvari and Media Partners Asia executive director Vivek Couto conducted the discussion.

The panel was part of the Sixth India Digital Networks Summit, organised by indiantelevision.com and Media Partners Asia.

Incable MD and CEO Ravi Mansukhani said that the time had come to re-rate the industry and make all sections – DTH, DTV, and analogue – move together. He said it was time consuming for any consumer to go to a theatre for seeing a film or go to the market for shopping, and therefore the internet and VAS on TV offered viable solutions that one could afford and were more economical. Digitisation would provide all these opportunities, he added.
 
 
Mansukhani informed that the cable operator was not unduly worried about the growth of DTH since it did not directly affect his business. He said 30 per cent of the TV sets being sold were still standard TVs, incapable of receiving HDTV. Switching over to LCD or LED TVs was bound to take some time. The growth of HD was around 18 to 20 per cent in the metros of Delhi and Mumbai but was less than 10 per cent nationally.

However, he added that the real change will come with the bundling of TV and the internet and the process of digitisation will get accelerated.

As far as analogue TV was concerned, Mansukhani noted that it was presently doing a balancing act since the cable operator had to drop some channels in order to provide some others as the present analogue STB could not carry more than a certain number of channels. 
 
According to National Geographic Network and Fox International Channels MD Keertan Adyanthaya, HD would become sustainable gradually. The prices of the HD STBs will fall with increasing number of channels and increasing number of subscribers.

He said cable operators and aggregators had to work together to increase ARPUs. At present, it was the operator and not the broadcaster who was providing STBs and the services. He expected a change in one to three years since the cable operator was also eager to upgrade.

There was also bound to be some categorization of the kind of channels a consumer wanted, though the going would be tough with over 500 channels.

Star Den head strategy and planning Amit Arora noted that the viewer will ultimately pay more for better platforms with more services in the long term. But he said digitisation was expected more at the level of the local cable operator. It was the cable operator who could educate the viewer about HD, and only then this would take off.
 

NEW DELHI: Indian cable TV companies will be able to attract foreign strategic investors only after they build scale, have a large primary point ownership and operate in a more friendly regulatory environment.

The cable TV sector has seen investments pour in from private equity firms over the last few years and three multi-system operators (MSOs) have raised capital from initial public offerings (IPOs), but global majors like Comcast have been reluctant to enter the Indian market.
 
“For strategic investors to come in, the MSOs need to scale up their primary point ownership. The regulatory environment also needs to improve,” said Emam Securities executive director investment banking and media practices head Salil Pitale.

The government has prescribed a foreign direct investment (FDI) cap of 49 per cent on the cable TV sector and 20 per cent on DTH.

The risks in investing in the cable and direct-to-home (DTH) sectors have reduced over the years but the rewards are still far away. While the DTH companies are incurring losses as they play the volume game, the MSOs are struggling to speed up digitisation.

“Various investors have different risk profiles. Some strategic investors are probably waiting for the sector to evolve,” said Astro Group executive director Raghvendra Madhav.

Malaysia-based Astro has made a string of investments in India including Sun Direct, FM radio and niche channels NDTV Good Times and Sanjeev Kapoor’s upcoming cookery channel. 
 
“We had a different approach and decided to participate at an early stage. We took a stake in Sun Direct,” said Madhav, while speaking at the 6th India Digital Networks Summit here today. .

There are several challenges in investing in India as the evolution of the digital story is still at its infancy stage. “A fundamental shift, however, has taken place. It is market forces and not regulation that is taking the entire digitisation forward,” said Madhav.

Sun Direct is in investment mode and the current focus is acquisition of subscribers. “We got to keep the investments up. Raising ARPUs (average revenue per user) is a later stage development,” Madhav added.

Consolidation in the cable TV sector will, however, take place ahead of DTH which has six private players with size.
“There will be more opportunities in the cable sector as it is fragmented. Individual players have taken different strategies. Some MSOs have build reach and revenues and hope to convert them into profitability. Other MSOs have gone ahead with direct point acquisitions. Investors are examining both these models carefully with an open approach,” said Pitale.

Cable TV companies have a combined revenue of Rs 200 billion and the operating margins stand at 30-35 per cent, added Pitale.

The distribution sector is getting stronger and there is a fair amount of richness in valuations of cable TV and DTH companies. As digitisation paces up, investors will find more funding opportunities.

MUMBAI: Pizza Hut has appointed Hungama Digital Media Entertainment to strengthen its social media presence.

Hungama will be responsible for the brand and develop various campaigns to enable interactive communication channels between Pizza Hut and the spectrum of users in the digital universe. 
 
Hungama Digital Media Entertainment has managed social media campaigns for brands such as Videocon, Bacardi, Pepsi, Aircel, VU Technologies and ITC Vivel. Mandate of the agency is to increase the level of engagement with online consumers and update them with latest promotions and campaigns.

Yum! Restaurants India Pizza Hut director marketing Anup Jain says, “Social media is increasingly becoming the platform for interacting directly with the consumers. At Pizza Hut, we are extremely focused on strengthening our brand presence on the social media platform. Our fan page – Pizza Hut Celebrations is already the largest restaurant brand community in India on Facebook.

“We chose to partner with Hungama as it is the leader in providing effective social media campaigns to brands across markets and categories. I am very excited and confident of this partnership. This will act as a catalyst in our journey to become the most influential brand in the social media space.” 
 
Hungama Digital Media Entertainment COO Siddhartha Roy said, “We are extremely excited to come onboard as the social media partner for Pizza Hut. We have some really exciting social media campaigns lined up for the consumers and we are confident of fulfilling the brand mandate of initiating consumer activation using various social media platforms.

“Our team has implemented very creative campaigns for other clients in the past and they bring immense amount of experience to the table to make this one successful.”
 

NEW DELHI: The next five years will be crucial for digitisation in India and the industry needs to unite if the country has to move towards minimum regulation in the broadcasting sector, said Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman JS Sarma.
 
Sarma, who was speaking at the sixth India Digital Networks Summit here today, expressed confidence that the country could achieve total digitisation by December 2013, by when analogue can be stopped, though he said that the final decision will be taken by the government.

He said that there was need to move towards minimum regulation in broadcasting and the industry must unite if this has to be achieved. Similarly, issues such as carriage fee can only be sorted out if the industry is united.

L to R: Wanvari, Sarma, Shankar, Singh, Puri and Goenka at inauguration of IDNS 2010

Sarma  said digitisation will bring in greater transparency and he was confident that the industry will support the pace forward.

He said a plan of action must be worked out, irrespective of whether this was done by the Trai or by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

He said Trai had suggested several measures to the government with regard to digitisation which included issues such as taxation and foreign direct investment and the matter was pending with the government.

The way the country moves over the next five years will decide the fate of digitisation in the next fifty years, he said.

Denying that Trai looked at broadcasting from a telecom standpoint, Sarma however, agreed that the issue of a new regulator required deep thought.

He said the country will benefit by around $20 billion a year with digitisation and therefore, it was important that the pace be stepped up. In fact, he said the work on digitisation should have commenced much earlier.

He said that Trai had suggested an FDI of 74 per cent for MSOs and 26 per cent for local cabel operators that wanted to digitise.

He said the increase in broadband would also accelerate digitisation. He said even the cable industry was being used to help increase the spread of broadband.

Since the matter of tariff of addressable systems was before the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), Trai had suggested a ceiling of Rs 250 per month for the non-CAS systems.

Earlier, MPA executive director Vivek Couto in his presentation said 40 per cent of the world would be fully digitised by 2014. He noted that in India out of 110 million TV homes, 24.6 million was covered by direct-to-home (DTH).

But analogue was still the heart of the 60,000 cable operators who controlled the industry.

He said around $3 billion would be needed for digitisation of the cable industry over the next ten years. The returns however were long term. The payback will begin within 48 months, or even less with the spread of broadband, he added.

He said certain things like better licensing regime, higher investment norms, greater deregulation and a new regulator were necessary to achieve this.

Earlier welcoming the delegates, founder and CEO of indiantelevision.com Anil Wanvari said the cable industry was still fragmented and needed to be catalysed. Digitisation had been put on the backburner.

However, the DTH industry was growing faster and had covered 24 per cent of the cable and satellite homes in the country, though it was still not yielding profits.

The smaller cable television operators were getting marginalised. IPTV was growing only in the upscale market.

The government should put a licensing regime in place and the industry has to push the government for this, he said.

The day-long annual India Digital Networks Summit (IDNS) has been jointly organised by indiantelevision.com and Media Partners Asia, based on the theme “Building the digital ecosystem”.

Endorsed by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the summit will debate on India‘s future digital ecosystem. The meet has the participation of a stellar cast of leaders from government, distribution, content, technology and investment communities. Heads of DTH (direct-to-home), cable TV, distribution, and broadcasting industries are part of the summit.
 

NEW DELHI: The sixth annual India Digital Networks Summit (IDNS), jointly organised by Indiantelevision.com and Media Partners Asia, is set to kick off here tomorrow the theme of “Building the digital ecosystem”.

Endorsed by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the day-long summit will debate on India‘s future digital ecosystem. The tone of the summit will be set with a keynote address by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman JS Sarma.
 
The meet will have participation of a stellar cast of leaders from government, distribution, content, technology and investment communities. Heads of DTH (direct-to-home), Cable TV, distribution, and broadcasting industries will also attend.

“The DTH industry has been going through a very dynamic and vibrant phase over the past year, with the operators expanding their subscriber base exponentially. On the Cable TV front also, there is a lot of untapped opportunity with the government needing to take decisions on several issues,” said Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief Anil Wanvari.

“Some of the MSOs like Den Networks, Hathway Cable & Datacom and Sea Cable have successfully raised capital through initial public offering. We hope the conference will help facilitate discussion for all the constituents – broadcaster, regulator, suppliers, DTH and cable TV operators,” Wanvari added.

The summit will start with a market review by Indiantelevision.com and MPA. It will give the perspective and future outlook on how the Indian broadcasting, pay TV, digital and broadband markets are developing in the global context with a focus on regulatory and commercial considerations.

The first panel, with industry heavyweights – Ajai Puri (CEO, Bharti Telemedia), Man Jit Singh (CEO, Multi Screen Media), Punit Goenka (MD and CEO Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd) and Uday Shankar (CEO, Star India) – will discuss the core issue ‘Building the digital eco system’ with challenges of innovation, regulation and investment.

Looking at the future which is all about targeted advertising, HDTV, DVR, 3D TV and VOD, the second panel – Imagining the Future – will try to answer how these services can become profitable and how critical they will be to the evolving road map for pay TV operators as they strive to innovate for low cost consumers. It will be attended by RC Venkateish (CEO, Dish TV), Anil Malhotra, (Northern Regional Head, Digicable), Rahul Johri (SVP & GM, Discovery Networks, Asia Pacific), Sue Taylor (EVP, NDS) and Tryggve Arveschoug (Head of International Product Marketing, Conax).

The third panel will raise the critical issue of ‘ROI: Pushing the envelope, models that pay’. The panelists include – Ravi Mansukhani (MD & CEO, Incable), Keertan Adyanthaya (MD, Fox International Channel India), Amit Arora (Star Den), and Edward Allfrey (Head of EMEIA software solutions, Solution Area TV, Ericsson). 
 
The panel on “Risks, but where are the rewards?”’ will comprise Raghvendra Madhav (Executive Director, Astro), Salil Pitale (Enam Securities) and Vinayak Shenvi (VP, Citibank). It will examine the latest benchmarks and successful case studies.

The last panel: “Broadband & The Bundle – Dynamics with cable and wireless” will see participation of EVS Chakravarthy (CEO, You Cable & Broadband), Bibhu Rath (CEO, Ortel), R Mahesh Kumar (CEO, Asianet) and Rajesh Khurana (Country Manager, Seagate). They will discuss cable broadband and multiple product bundling sales and their development in India.

The closing session will be a one-on-one with S Parameswaran (Director Business Development, Antrix).

NDS is the lead partner of the event, while Seagate and Ericsson are the industry partners. ADB and MGM Channels have joined as the associate partners. Conax is delegate bag partner; Star DEN is name badge partner, while The One Alliance and Star News are support partners. CMCG India is the PR partner. Ambez Media, Media Route 26, Media Research Asia and TellyDost are the media partners of the event. Also joining as print media partners are Avishkar, Cable Quest, Satellite & Cable TV and Satellite @Internet India.
 

MUMBAI: Former WWE wrestler Hulk Hogan is taking to the ring again, this time online. The wrestling champion, actor, TV host, entrepreneur and reality-show star has formed a new tag-team with global production company Endemol, and the licensing division of Bischoff Hervey Entertainment, in order to take on the online gaming industry.

The result is Hulk Hogan’s Hulkamania, an online slot created by Endemol Games UK. The game is slated for worldwide release early next year and will be distributed internationally by Endemol Worldwide Brands, a global division dedicated to brand partnerships and digital media.
 
Hulkamania will be one of the first games of its type to integrate original video content of the star, who appears personally throughout in order to inspire players and personalise the gameplay experience.

Endemol Games UK is the recently launched division specialising in online gaming and headed up by MD, Jurian van der Meer.

“Endemol Games UK is expanding into new areas and this deal marks one of our first third party licensing partnerships. Hulk Hogan is an icon with massive global appeal and we aim to attract his fans with creative online slot games. This is a great addition to our portfolio,” said Van der Meer.

The deal was spearheaded by producers and longtime Hogan partners, Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey, for the licensing division of Los Angeles-based Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment. 
 
Bischoff added, “Endemol is a major player in international media. Titles like Deal or No Deal and Big Brother are still setting the standard for media properties across the world. We’re proud to be partners.”

MX Gaming, a relative newcomer in the online world, is co-producing Hulkamania with Endemol and Bischoff-Hervey Entertainment, and was instrumental in the genesis of the deal.

Ike Mcfadden of MX Gaming added, “We’ve worked closely with Bischoff and Hogan on prior projects, and when examining our options for online, Endemol was clearly the perfect fit. They know television, and they know gaming, and that’s precisely what we wanted.

“With a 25-year career and millions of fans, a game based on the exploits of Hulk Hogan is probably as close to a safe bet as exists in the highly competitive online gaming industry.”

MUMBAI: Lionsgate, Microsoft, Hulu, Google and Adobe are to take part in the upcoming Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (Casbaa) convention in Hong Kong.

The convention will take place from 25-28 October.
 
On 26 October Lions Gate Entertainment vice chairman Michael Burns will outline the global challenges and opportunities for the producers of shows such as Mad Men and the distributors of a suite of new channels specifically designed for the Asia Pacific pay-TV market in his opening keynote.

Meanwhile, in the closing segment of the Convention 2010, online video service Hulu senior VP International Johannes Larcher will outline a “ground-breaking” business model and the potential for migration from the US to Asia and beyond.  
 
Larcher will be joined by Microsoft senior director of business incubation Meredith Amdur discussing the key drivers for success in the development of new products and industry innovation, with Google head of online media sales Asia Pacific and Japan Parminder Singh.

Supported by Adobe, the closing panel will debate how future developments of innovative content and technological wizardry will reshape the global entertainment space.

Casbaa CEO Simon Twiston Davies says, “Changes in content creation, distribution, monetisation and consumption have opened up new opportunities for service providers to differentiate themselves beyond simple transport. The future of digital media belongs to those who respond creatively to the fast changing needs of consumers.”
 

NEW DELHI: The former Wireless Adviser to the Government, P K Garg, has been elected to represent Asia on the Radio Regulations Board of the International Telecommunication Union.

The other two members elected are Yasuhiko Ito from Japan who took 120 votes and Ali R. Ebadi from Malaysia (93 votes). Garg received 78 votes. Members are elected to represent Region E, Asia, and Australasia.
 
India was also elected among the 13 members on the ITU Council, getting 119 of the 161 votes. The other members are Indonesia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Bangladesh, Thailand, Australia, India, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines. 
 
The elections took place at the ongoing ITU’s 18th Plenipotentiary conference at Mexico. This meet takes place every four years.
 

The other two members elected are Yasuhiko Ito from Japan who took 120 votes and Ali R. Ebadi from Malaysia (93 votes). Garg received 78 votes. Members are elected to represent Region E, Asia, and Australasia.
 
India was also elected among the 13 members on the ITU Council, getting 119 of the 161 votes. The other members are Indonesia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Bangladesh, Thailand, Australia, India, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines. 
 
The elections took place at the ongoing ITU’s 18th Plenipotentiary conference at Mexico. This meet takes place every four years.
 

MUMBAI: Direct selling and e-commerce company Lifeis has launched in India.

The Direct Selling market, according to the Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA), is growing at 17 per cent annually; and Lifeis is the first domestic player that originates from the South of India.

It is anticipated that the industry turnover would double in the next two years to around Rs.50 billion. Alongside with its growth, this 14-year-old industry is emerging as the key driver for the enterpreneural opportunity in India.
 
 
Lifeis says that it has designed and implemented its own mode of business – the one that combines e-Commerce solutions with Direct Selling opportunities. As a Direct Selling company, Lifeis pays associates to sell the goods and services, avoiding the typical large expenses associated with product advertising.

Lifeis enables individuals and home-based businesses to offer their friends and family large-volume discount pricing, special retail promotions and value-added services that would otherwise be unavailable to them or difficult to find. 
 
At the same time Lifeis IT platform, which is accessible and available at all times on the Web, allows the members to retrieve a wealth of information quickly and easily, enabling the ordering process to be secure and safe.
Lifeis CEO, MD Ravi Puri notes, “In our business plan the retail
cluster mode was accepted where Lifeis centered on several groups of merchandise, namely: Beauty, Healthcare, Apparels and Textiles. Lifeis business opportunity is based on an excellent portfolio of high-quality products and brands that can only be purchased through Lifeis Business Owners.

“We distribute them through carefully organised, direct selling
networks comprised of highly motivated, independent members. The Company is implementing innovative market strategies that integrate the best of Direct Selling with the explosive power of Network Marketing to successfully grow and develop its business”.

Lifeis deputy MD Sanjay Mahajan states, “Our Corporate Code of Ethics requires truthful disclosure of product information and expressly prohibits deceptive or unlawful consumer or recruiting practices. And we are dedicated to these principles starting from our first official operations day and onward.”

MUMBAI: UK pay TV service provider BSkyB has lodged a submission with regulatory watchdog Ofcom expressing concern about YouView TV, a joint venture by seven parties including the BBC that looks to bring Internet content and new video-on-demand to the television in the first half of next year.

BSkyB says that the public IPTV service will affect competition in the UK Internet TV market. Its complaint was submitted as Ofcom’s board met to discuss previous complaints from Virgin Media and IP Vision, which both branded the scheme anti-competitive.
 
BSkyB‘s move could delay Ofcom‘s decision on whether to investigate YouView, formerly known as Project Canvas, following opposition from several parties including Virgin Media, Six TV and United for Local Television. 
 
YouView CEO Richard Halton says, “While we welcome justifiable scrutiny, the timing of this submission is clearly designed to extend the regulatory process in pursuit of commercial self interest rather than the public interest”.
YouView is equally owned by the BBC, ITV, BT Group, Channel 4, TalkTalk Telecom, Five and Arqiva.