Category: Software

MUMBAI: Upping the ante against the participation of Pakistani contestants Veena Malik and Begum Nawazish Ali in Bigg Boss, cable operators have decided to black out Colors in Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan on request of Hindu activist party Shiv Sena.
 
Colors has already been switched off in many pockets of Mumbai, several cable operators said. The others will follow suit before the controversial reality show goes on air at 9 pm today.

“All cable operators are switching off the channel in Mumbai as per Shiv Sena‘s request,” CODA president and Scod18 director Ganesh Naidu told indiantelevision.com.  
 
Digicable has decided to switch off the signals in the whole of Maharashtra, said a senior executive.
What has irked the operators is the participation of Abbas Kazmi, lawyer of Azmal Kasab, the terrorist who attacked Mumbai.

Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab said, “Bala Saheb (Thackeray) is opposing the participation of Pakistani players in the show since the beginning. The channel has not paid any heed. So now we have appealed to all the cable operators, who have agreed to our request to switch off the channel from tonight. Starting with Mumbai, the signals will be shut in whole of Maharashtra.”

When contacted, Colors’ officials refused to comment.
 

MUMBAI: Videocon D2H, the direct-to-home arm of the Videocon Group, has acquired the telecast rights for 12 UTV movies.

Videocon D2H will air these movies on its subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) channel.
 
The lineup includes Kaminey, Dev D, Delhi 6, Life in a Metro, Kurbaan, Aagey se Right, Dhoondhte Reh Jaoge, Kisaan, Kismet Konnection, Main Aur Mrs Khanna, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye and Agyaat.

Each movie will be made available for a period of eight weeks on the DTH platform.  
 
Videocon Group director Saurabh Dhoot said, “We at Videocon D2H are always committed to bring the best for our customers. UTV is known for entertaining films and hence this tie up with UTV is a great value-add for our subscribers. We will be showcasing 12 blockbuster movies from the UTV Motion Pictures bouquet.”

UTV Motion Pictures senior VP, international distribution and syndication Amrita Pandey added, “DTH today continues to be one of the most sought after platforms for watching movies post their release in theatres.”

MUMBAI: Big CBS, the joint venture company between Big Broadcasting and CBS Corp, has finalised the subscription rates of its three upcoming channels. 
 
The company, which will be launching Big CBS Prime, Big CBS Spark and Big CBS Love by end of October, will be offering the channel bouquet at Rs 21.20 (Rs 9.20 for Big CBS Prime, Rs 6 for Big CBS Spark and Big CBS Love).

Meanwhile, Big CBS Prime is priced at Rs 14 on a la carte basis, while the other two channels will cost Rs 11 each.

The rates for the addressable/digital platforms have been kept at 35 per cent of non-addressable rates, as per Trai’s latest tariff order. 
 
The company also announced the commercial rates of the channel. While Big CBS Prime is priced at Rs 50, the other two channels are kept at Rs 30 each.

Reliance Big Broadcasting COO Ashutosh said, “Distribution is one of the most critical aspects for the success of a television channel. Visualising a potential growth in digital as well as analog platforms, there is a critical need for right pricing. Keeping in mind consumers’ need for English GEC and distributor’s needs, Big CBS channels are fixed at very competitive prices and we are confident it will see positive response from distributors.”

MUMBAI: Manhattan Communications India, the full service advertising agency, has appointed Saibal Dutta as COO and business head for the digital business.

The digital business includes Manhattan Digital India and ad network – Ethniconline Network.
 
Recently, the company, which has offices in US and Canada also, had split the India business into two verticals: Below The Line (BTL) and Digital. For BTL business, it appointed Rakesh Misra as COO.

Manhattan Communications India co-promoter and director Shantanu Aditya said, “I am very happy to welcome Dutta to Manhattan Communications. He has a vast experience in this field.” 
 
Dutta added, “There are number of opportunities in the internet space and I look forward to capture those in the coming weeks.”

Prior to Manhattan Communications, Dutta has worked with a digital network as business head – West and South and Webdunia.com. He also has worked with Cybermedia and ICICI Bank.

MUMBAI: Reliance Big TV, the direct- to- home (DTH) service provider, has entered into a partnership with electronics manufacturer MIRC Electronics, makers of Onida brand of consumer durables.

Under the deal, customers buying Onida LED, LCD and the Colour Television (CTV) range will get a free Big TV connection. The offer is valid on 21’ UltraSlim models, 21’ Thunder models, 29’ Flat models and 29’ slim models.
 
The offer is valid till 10 November, and the new connection comes with one month of Silver pack subscription.

Big TV senior VP and chief marketing officer Umesh Rao said, “We are delighted to partner with Onida television range for the festival season. This association brings a dramatic scaling of reach and visibility for both the partners.” 
 
MIRC Electronics VP, sales, marketing and services K Sriram added, “The Indian DTH market offers immense potential for the future growth amongst total television homes in India. We are proud to announce our association with Big TV.”

Big TV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications, offers over 260 channels.
 

MUMBAI: Tikona Digital Networks (TDN), the wireless broadband service provider which has an All India Class A ISP licence, rolled out its first digital campaign under the brand name Tikona Wi-Bro.

The 60-day campaign targeting the home segment will be rolled out in two phases. The first phase will focus on creating brand awareness and the second phase on generating leads.
 
 
The campaign ‘Stay Smart Stay Connected’ is targeted towards youth and aspirants between the age group of 18- 45. The creative has a young and vibrant feel resonating with the confident, warm and authentic brand personality.

Each letter of ‘Smart’ connotes a service benefit- S-Secure, M-Value for Money, A- Abundant MBs, R- Reliable and T- Tech Nxt.

To maximise visibility, impact and effectiveness, the campaign will have its strategic presence across genres such as travel, news, business, search engines and horizontals like Yahoo, MSN and Rediff, the company said.
 
 
Tikona Digital Networks CMO Heramb Ranade said, “Internet usage in the last few years has earned the right to be considered as the fastest growing service in India. With 68 million internet users currently, the digital platform is emerging to be a hub for customer centric communication. In recent times, digital marketing has evolved from being a support medium to a more strategic platform for advertising. Considering the nature of our business wherein all our target audience is online, it becomes essential for us to have our presence and engagement on this medium.”

MUMBAI: Tata Sky, a joint venture between Tata Group and Star, has invested over Rs 35 billion in the direct-to-home (DTH) venture and has mopped up six million subscribers.

The company has revised upwards its funding requirement to over Rs 40 billion. Earlier, Tata Sky had revisited its investment plan and earmarked Rs 40 billion as its capital requirement.
 
“We have already spent over Rs 35 billion. The fund requirement will be over Rs 40 billion,” says Tata Sky managing director and chief executive officer Vikram Kaushik.

The company, still incurring losses, is on course for operational break even. “Our revenues are higher than even Dish TV. Our ARPUs (average revenue per user) are the highest in the industry,” says Kaushik, while refusing to give further details.

Tata Sky’s ARPUs, according to industry sources, stand at Rs 190. The industry’s ARPUs, on the other hand, fall in the region of Rs 135-150.  
 
Star has got the FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) nod to up its stake in Tata Sky from 20 per cent to 29.8 per cent. Star is buying for Rs 3.24 billion a 49 per cent stake in Tata Group’s investment firm TS Investments which will, in turn, buy a 20 per cent stake in Tata Sky. This will give effectively an additional 9.8 per cent stake to Star in Tata Sky.

“Star will hold close to 30 per cent in Tata Sky. The Tatas will have around 60 per cent and Temasek 10 per cent,” says Kaushik.
 

MUMBAI: Robosoft Technologies, a developer of Mac, iPhone and iPad games, has announced its strategic relationship with Encore, a retail publisher for a range of personal productivity, utility, education and game titles.

Encore has selected Robosoft‘s DRMConnect, a Digital Rights Management solution, to protect and manage the licensing of its Mac products and game titles for digital and retail distribution. 
 
Robosoft MD, CEO Rohith Bhat says, “Encore is a Top Ten interactive software publisher and a leading player in the retail distribution, personal productivity, utility, education and game titles for both Mac and PC. Encore was looking for an easy-to-use DRM system for Mac applications that can be integrated with their websites as well as reporting tools for trial conversions, customisable user interface, and compatibility with current operating systems. We were pleased to offer DRMConnect, a secure, flexible yet economical Mac Digital Rights Management solution and were delighted to fulfill their Mac DRM needs.”

Encore president Cal Morrell says, “We looked at a number of DRM technologies. There were many options available for the PC platform, but we had difficulty finding the right solution for our Mac products. DRMConnect offered us the best security protection, with helpful built-in tracking and conversion mechanisms, at a reasonable price.” 
 
Mac unit sales have averaged a worldwide growth rate of 20 per cent year-over-year since 2008 and are maintaining a rapid growth with the latest Q3 – 2010 results announced by Apple. Indie developers and large publishing houses are now porting their titles from other platforms onto the Mac platform to get a share of the Mac Software/Game business.

DRMConnect is a DRM solution for distributing Mac games, software, and casual and AAA titles on the Mac platform. DRMConnect offers flexible methods for wrapping the Mac software products and games based on various factors like the number of minutes playable, number of days or launches, etc. DRMConnect also offers the flexibility to game publishers and distributors to apply one single DRM solution for digital sales as well as traditional retail channels.
 

MUMBAI: MTV India, the youth channel from the Viacom18, has announced the launch of three new shows on multiple platforms.

Two of these shows are first initiative – MTV TJ Hunt, a platform to find the official MTV youth representative for all social media and MTV @ The Tube, the lookout for the freshest producers of content in the country.
  
Meanwhile, it is also launching the second season of Samsung Mobile MTV Gangnext, the youth engagement show, which was first launched last year on the web.

MTV India channel head Aditya Swamy says, “Our audiences are constantly evolving and hence we need to keep finding ways of meaningfully engaging with them. The success we have had in the social media space has only reinforced the power of the digital medium and with these three very unique properties, we hope have to involve and excite the huge digital youth community.” 
 
MTV TJ Hunt is an initiative to discover the one individual who will represent MTV and its quirky and youthful persona on all social media platforms as the MTV Twitter Jockey. The TJ will reach out to engage with the audiences, connect with their opinions, views and lifestyle choices. The goal is to establish MTV’s presence in the hottest space of Twitter.
MTV @ The Tube is an open platform to bring forth amateur producers, where the best will get a chance to feature their content in the online space. The first time content generated by users will find a place on MTV.

Samsung Mobile MTV Gangnext – powered by Aircel, is an interactive online competition where handpicked gangs pan India battle through various assigned tasks to gain popularity and respect among their peers. It is a very effective tool in deciphering the cool quotient in youth interactions and getting a holistic view of the target audience.

BANGALORE: DTH service provider Tata Sky announced three new packages under what it claims is the much wanted solution to the dilemma of unwanted channels being thrust on a subscriber who is made to pay for them– TruChoice.

The three packages are ‘Economy’ with a base price of Rs 150, Supreme priced at Rs 220 and Grand priced at Rs 330.
  
TruChoice clubs channels of the same genre together in one pack and gives subscribers the flexibility to choose the content they want to view and pay for.

Also, paying subscribers of TruChoice packaging will get 2 regional language packs of their choice free of cost for a lifetime. Thorough segregation of the genres based on languages enhances choice and simplifies the decision.

Says TataSky Ltd CEO and MD Vikram Kaushik, “Our new packaging model ‘TruChoice’ is a significant new step that underlines our customer-orientation. It is the result of extensive consumer research which showed that subscribers view multiple channels within the same genre. TruChoice is easy to understand and is flexible, allowing you to choose a group of channels based on your preference. Now a South Indian doesn’t have to waste his money on Punjabi channels and a family with no children in their home, need not pay for kids entertainment channels.” 
 
“With this slew of new initiatives namely, our customer-oriented ‘TruChoice’ packaging, hardware priced at Rs 999, and the once-in-an-year Subscription Holiday, Tata Sky is redefining television viewing for millions of families across India,” he adds.