Category: Software

MUMBAI: OnMobile Global Ltd, a leading telecom Vas player, has acquired the rights to video technology and mobile solutions for third-generation services developed by US-based Dilithium Networks Inc. for an undisclosed amount.
 
The acquisition will help OnMobile deploy mobile video solutions globally.  
 
OnMobile will get access to Dilithium’s extensive patent portfolio – over 175 patents in the video technologies.

MUMBAI: Beginning 1 January, MTV Deutschland will turn pay.
MTV Networks already operates the channels TVNHD, MTV Dance, MTV Rocks, MTV Music, VH1, VH1 Classic, Nick Jr. and Nicktoons as pay-TV channels in the German market.

In the last three years, the turnover of these channels has grown threefold.

The combined Nickelodeon and Comedy Central channel will remain free-to-air for the moment.
 
In addition, MTV will also launch MTV Brand New as a music clips-only channel. However, Viva, also owned by the company, will remain a free-to-air music channel and become the main music and entertainment channel. It will be positioned as a showcase channel for the other brands of the company as is already the case in the UK where it has taken the place of TMF on Freeview. 
 
MTV is currently in negotiations with various cable, IPTV and satellite DTH platforms to place the channel. The move by MTV marks the first time a German free-to-air broadcaster has moved into the encrypted television arena.
 

MUMBAI: Zee Turner has appointed Virad Kaul as its chief executive officer. The position was vacant as Dinesh Jain had stepped down in July this year.

Prior to his appointment, Kaul was with Idea Cellular since last four years, serving as COO UP – West. He was also holding additional charge of Delhi and Haryana circle for the last few months.
 
Essel Group’s group CEO – distribution businesses Arun K Kapoor said, “Virad has the vision, experience and energy to lead Zee Turner and we are confident that his leadership experience will provide great impetus to the growth plans of the company. I am sure that his focus on execution; coupled with exceptional people management and team building skills will provide a cutting edge to the company.”
 
Kaul has also worked with Gillette and Godfrey Phillips. He comes with over 25 years of experience in various facets of business like sales, marketing and strategy.
Heading the specialty sales vertical of Gillette in India, Kaul was responsible for brands ranging from Gillette Blades, Razors, Oral B, Prudent and Duracell. He played a key role in establishing the more specialised brands like Parker and Braun. He also handled the South Asia market of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Maldives for Gillette.

MUMBAI: After building a pan India cable TV network, founder-promoter Sameer Manchanda is beginning to cobble together a bouquet of global channels for launching them in India.

Den Networks has floated a television and media services subsidiary company, IME Networks, for this purpose.

For starters, IME Networks has entered into a joint venture partnership with BFTV LLC, broadcasters of BabyFirst, the international television channel for babies, toddlers and parents.

The JV, in which IME Networks holds 75 per cent, marks Den’s foray into introducing international channels of genres currently “underserved” in the Indian market.
 
The JV will house all rights for BabyFirst’s businesses in India and other select territories, including the distribution of the channel and related businesses. It will draw on BFTV’s internationally renowned content for babies and parents and leverage Den’s strengths in the Indian media industry and television distribution.

Den Network CMD Sameer Manchanda said, “We are very pleased to partner BabyFirst through our JV. We see tremendous potential for a focused channel for babies and parents in a young country like India. The Indian television industry is at the threshold of the next wave of channels in genres that are virtually absent today. This JV marks our first step in introducing such channels to Indian audiences.” 
 
BFTV CEO Guy Oranim added, “We consider the Indian market a top priority for our company due to its size, young population and strong family values. We believe that introducing high quality, age-appropriate educational content, as we have done in more than 30 countries, will benefit both Indian children and their parents by offering them another way to bond and interact. Den is the ideal partner for us in India, and we have the utmost respect for the quality of its management, their expertise and their commitment to the success of this JV.”
 

MUMBAI: Barely a week and a half after Steven Wadsworth quit co-president of Disney Interactive Media Group, the company has appointed former Yahoo entertainment programmer James Pitaro and ex CEO of social gamemaker Playdom John Pleasants as its co-presidents.

The announcement was made by Disney chief Robert Iger. Both will assume office on 18 October.
 
Pleasants, who will continue to work out of San Francisco and run Playdom, will oversee all Disney‘s video-game businesses, including console titles, mobile and online games, and Web-based virtual worlds such as Club Penguin and the recently launched World of Cars.

Meanwhile, Pitaro will oversee Disney‘s non-gaming online content primarily centered around its Disney.com portal.  
 
Said Iger, “Our rapidly growing Disney digital businesses will benefit greatly from the deep experience and distinct leadership skills shown by John and Jimmy. John has shown incredible agility and skill in helping companies achieve success in the ever-shifting digital games business while Jimmy has vast knowledge of the online world and has been hugely successful at creating and building audiences around branded online content.”
The Disney chief consolidated Disney‘s gaming and Internet operations into the interactive media group in 2008 and put Wadsworth in charge.

MUMBAI: Fashion TV‘s FTV HD has selected RRsat Global Communications Network for providing uplink, playout and connectivity services.

RRsat provides content management and global distribution services to the television and radio broadcasting industries.
 
 
With this deal, FTV HD will now be available in full HD 1080i@50 format on RRsat‘s satellite platform on Intelsat-805 with broad distribution over North, Central and South America.

“Our FTV HD channel joins our popular FTV SD version available on RRsat‘s IS 805 DTH platform since 2003. This offering to the growing Latin American market is perfect for those viewers seeking the newest and hottest fashion programming in a premier viewing experience and is expected to play a significant role in increasing to over 16 million the connected homes already reached by FTV together with Turner Latin in South America, Central America and the Caribbean,” said Fashion TV president and CEO Michel Adam. 
 
Fashion TV is now getting distributed in 193 countries to over 350 million households and 7 million public locations across the five continents. It claims to be the only 24-hour fashion, beauty and lifestyle television station worldwide. Based in Paris since 1997, Fashion TV is streamed through 30 satellites and thousands of cable operators and its content focuses on fashion shows, backstage access, photographers, models and celebrities.

“We are proud to announce the launch of FTV HD on RRsat‘s IS 805 DTH platform,” commented RRsat founder and CEO David Rivel. “Fashion TV has now chosen RRsat to distribute four of its advanced HD channels comprising FTV HD, over North America and to DISH Network, FTV‘s High Definition channel to Asia, Australia, via Asiasat-5 satellite, and to Europe, Middle East and Africa via EuroBird-9 satellite. This new contract from FTV clearly attests to their long standing satisfaction with RRsat‘s unique and extensive service offering.”

MUMBAI: Pay-TV operator Dish Nepal has selected Latens, the software security solutions provider company to secure content and revenues for their latest DTH services in Nepal.

Dish Nepal, which is launching its DTH operations will offers over 80 channels. The company expects to ramp-up to more than 500,000 subscribers in Nepal and increase the digital penetration to more than 50 per cent in the country.
 
The Latens card-less Conditional Access Technology will be supported by set-top-box (STB) and middleware from Indieon and Arion. The subscriber management system is from Du-Software. The platform will have implementations including USB-PVR, NVOD, PPV, flexible channel subscriptions and EPG.

“We made a conscious choice to go with Latens cardless technology as it helped us monetise much faster at a fraction of the cost in the most secure manner. Latens software CAS has helped us save more than 60 per cent over the lifecycle of the CAS and is probably the only solution which helps us to address piracy issues such as smart-card sharing,” said Dish Nepal MD Laxmi Prasad Paudiyal.

Latens CAS is a DVB compliant software-only Conditional Access System (CAS) designed for operators of cable, DTH and DTT. The cardless technology offers pay-TV operators a more dynamic and secure anti-piracy strategy at a much lower cost than traditional card-based or embedded set-top systems. 
 
Latens claimed in a official release that its CAS protects content across all networks, cable, IP, DTH, DTT, one-way, two- way or hybrid. This allows operators to use a single Latens CAS head-end for any type of network, making it a safe investment for operators expanding their Pay-TV services across multiple distribution infrastructures.

Latens regional director Asia Rahul Nehra said, “We are thankful to Dish Nepal for placing faith in Latens for their DTH. We feel that software CAS has finally come of age and addresses the main pain points of operators including piracy, smartcard sharing, logistics and replacement which helps reduce operating expenditure for the operator and protects revenues.”
 

MUMBAI: Controversies notwithstanding, the Commonwealth Games (CWG) is going to crack open the door a little wider for high-definition (HD) telecast. Three DTH operators have announced their intent to add DD Sports in the HD format as part of their offerings.
 
Dish TV has already started the HD feed of DD Sports, while Big TV and Sun Direct have announced that they will be offering DD Sports HD ahead of CWG.

Meanwhile, Big TV has also announced addition of six new channels in its SD format offering, taking the total number of channels to over 260. The newly added channels are – regional news channels like Sakshi, Suvarna and DY 365; religious channel Aaseervatham TV and regional entertainment Ruposhi Bangla and Subhavaartha TV. 
 
Big TV has also started a new introductory scheme wherein customers can now avail the Big TV set top box for Rs 1190 with two months Silver Pack for Non South and at Rs 1390 with four months Value Pack and sports channels for the Southern region.

MUMBAI: Agra-based multi-system operator (MSO) Sea TV Network’s Rs 502 million initial public offering (IPO) has been oversubscribed 9.39 times on the closing day.

The qualified institutional investors reserved portion got subscribed 1.66 times, while non institutional segment got subscribed by 40.94 times and retail segment by 7.45 times.

The company received bids for 52.39 million shares, as compared to 5.58 million shares on offer. The IPO price band was set at Rs 90- Rs 100 per share.
  
The total fund requirement of Sea TV, including meeting the expenses of the IPO issue, is Rs 596.5 million. It also requires Rs 155.5 million for setting up 20 branch-offices in Agra and adjoining areas with required infrastructure for receiving digital signals and re-transmitting the same through co-axial cables to individual subscribers.  
 
The company intends to invest Rs 275 million out of the issue proceeds in setting up a complete digital head-end. It also plans to pump in Rs 52.8 million for setting up network for IPTV solution and Rs 65.6 million for laying underground optical fibre capable of digital transmission throughout Agra city and adjoining areas.

Besides the proposed IPO, Sea TV Network will also raise term loans and fund from internal accruals.

MUMBAI: Neo Cricket and Neo Sports have strengthened their distribution reach by signing a multi-year deal with DTH operator Dish TV.

With this, Neo is now available across all the direct-to-home platforms.
 
Dish TV CEO RC Venkateish says, “The biggest season of cricket is upon us and we are delighted to add the popular Neo channels on our DTH platform. This initiative will enable all our eight million subscribers to enjoy the best of sporting action.”  
 
Neo Sports Broadcast COO Prasana Krishnan adds, “We are extremely delighted to partner with India’s leading DTH service provider- Dish TV. We look forward to a fruitful relationship with Dish TV in providing exciting sports action to their subscribers.”