Category: Software

MUMBAI: Time-shifted technology usage in the US is up more than 60 per cent from a year-ago period.

Two-Thirds (62 per cent) of consumers have watched primetime TV shows through time-shifted technology.

With the fall season heating up in the coming weeks, Comcast announced the findings of its second annual “TV Pulse Survey,” an independent survey conducted across the US by International Communications Research, that revealed America’s most-anticipated new and returning primetime series.

The survey also discovered that more consumers than ever before plan to watch their favourite TV shows anytime, anywhere using time-shifting technologies such as video-on-demand (VOD), digital video recorders (DVRs) and the Internet.
 
Comcast VP of entertainment services Diana Kerekes says, “Time-shifting has hit the mainstream and is changing the way people watch TV. The results of our ‘TV Pulse Survey’ underscore more consumers are watching their favorite shows when and how they want to watch them.”

Time-Shifting : While more than 80 per cent of consumers state they regularly watch primetime television, and 80 per cent plan to watch it live, consumers are also using time-shifting technologies. More than two-thirds of consumers (62 per cent) have watched primetime TV series through technologies that include VoD, DVR and the Internet. Time-shifted viewing is on the rise with 61 per cent using these technologies more than one year ago, and 84 per cent using them more than just three years ago.

More and more consumers are using various platforms when watching TV, and this fall, they’re planning to turn to a wide variety of time-shifting technologies. Interestingly, among Comcast customers, On Demand usage for watching TV series this fall is significantly more than the average primetime viewer.  
 
Top reasons consumers are using time-shifting technologies include personal schedules (79 percent) and programming conflicts (63 percent).
New Fall TV Season Shows : Half of consumers polled (49 per cent) say the new fall TV season is important to them. This is especially true among those who are under age 55, are female and have children in the household. ‘Serious‘ trumps ‘smiles‘ as consumers are most excited to watch:
• Dramas (75 per cent)
• Comedies (68 per cent)
• Movies (57 per cent)
• News/Educational (50 per cent)
• Sports (45 per cent)
• Reality shows (38 per cent)

When asked about several of the new TV series that are creating the most buzz, consumers ranked the following shows in order of preference, including:
• Hawaii Five-O (40 per cent)
• No Ordinary Family (23 per cent)
• The Event (21 per cent)
• Nikita (nine per cent)
• Lone Star (eight per cent).

Consumers were also asked to rank the most-anticipated returning shows, including:
• The Good Wife (21 per cent)
• Glee (19 per cent)
• Modern Family (18 per cent)
• Mad Men (15 per cent)
• Community (Nine per cent)
• Gossip Girl (Six per cent)

This fall television season, Comcast customers will have access to all of the highly anticipated shows on multiple platforms including this year’s hot shows such as: Mad Men, Parenthood, The Closer, Dexter and The Good Wife. They can watch live on TV, On Demand, online or by DVR. In an effort to provide even more efficiency, ease, and control for consumers, Comcast subscribers will also be able to go online (XfintyTV.com), set their DVR remotely, and watch on TV.

In the past year, television series have surged to the top viewed category On Demand. Overall, titles available on Comcast On Demand are viewed more than 350 million times each month, and this service offers more than 17,000 choices each month. Viewers can also prepare for the new season by viewing previous seasons and sneak peeks of favourite shows through On Demand on their televisions or through XfinityTV.com.

Primetime Viewing Behaviour : Given so many choices, it’s no surprise that of the 80+ per cent of consumers that regularly watch primetime, nearly half say they watch or record three to four primetime TV series in a typical week (44 per cent). In addition, the majority of viewers plan to watch or record TV during the 8– 10 pm timeframe.

MUMBAI: There will be 57 million US broadband households viewing full-length online video on the TV by 2014, according to In-Stat.

Revenue associated with this web-to-TV video content will grow from $2 billion to over $17 billion over a five-year period.
 
Says In-Stat principal analyst Keith Nissen, “The over-the-top (OTT) video market represents a new distribution channel for digital entertainment. Content producers want to market premium video content directly to the consumer. However, they have not yet decided the best way to monetise OTT video content and how to manage the OTT opportunity in context with their legacy distribution partners.”  
 
Some of the factors affecting this revenue growth include:
The installed base of web-enabled consumer electronics video devices will grow from 70 million in 2009 to 237 million in 2014.

The total number of US broadband households that own web-enabled CE video devices will nearly triple to 98 million by 2014.

Within five years, over 11 million operator-provisioned hybrid STBs will be delivering online video content directly to the TV.

MUMBAI: Airtel digital TV, the direct-to-home (DTH) service from Bharti Airtel, has added five new channels to its bouquet, taking its total tally to 215.

The new channels include PTC Chakde (Punjabi music), Zee 24 Taas (Marathi news), Saam TV (Marathi general entertainment), Zee Chattisgarh (Hindi news) and Zee Classic (Hindi movie). 
 
The DTH company has also added National Geographic channel’s Telugu feed to its offering.

Bharti Airtel CMO – DTH Sugato Banerji said, “The latest additions to our channel portfolio are part of our endeavour to incorporate customer preferences across genres and categories. One of the key reasons for Airtel digital TV’s proliferation into the mass markets has been our focus on localisation-entertainment for customers in their favourite language, genre. ‘My Entertainment in My Language’ is a proposition that is helping us establish the richness, width of our offerings in TV households that look forward to a blend of national and regional content in any part of the country they happen to be in.” 
 
In addition to the regional channels that are part of their base Tariff Pack, Airtel digital TV customers can get the rest of the regional channels of their choice on that pack free.

Customers can choose their Regional Language Pack from a total of eight packs in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi (two packs), Bengali and Punjabi.

On a-la-carte basis, PTC Chakde is available for Rs 5 per month, Zee 24 Taas for Rs 13 per month, Saam TV for Rs 10, Zee Chattisgarh for Rs 45 (for 6 months) and Zee Classic for Rs 12 per month.
 

NEW DELHI: The augmentation of the capacity of the country’s only free direct-to-home platform DD Direct Plus to 97 channels will cost Rs 554.3 million.

The augmentation in the first phase will be completed on 31 March 2011.

The plan is to increase DD Direct Plus‘ capacity to 200 by the end of the financial year 2011-12.
 
The platform currently has a capacity of 59 channels while it presently beams 57 TV channels, apart from 21 channels of All India Radio. The TV channels include 21 Doordarshan channels.

Earlier, Doordarshan Director General Aruna Sharma told indiantelevision.com that DD was just awaiting the clearance as it was ready with the infrastructure.

DD sources told indiantelevision.com that around 90 television channels by 82 applicants are in the queue for being uploaded on DD Direct Plus. These include some foreign channels. 
 
The oldest of these applications was made on 7 March 2007 while the latest was made on 12 April this year.
Apart from many other channels, some of the applicants include TV24, NE TV Group, Sakshi TV and Star News.

The channels include three foreign channels: Japan’s NHK TV, Korean Broadcasting Corporation and Deutsche Welle. Around ten more foreign channels are expected to join soon.

The annual carriage fee that broadcasters have to pay has also been lowered to just Rs 2.5 million from the earlier Rs 10 million, apart from a service tax of Rs 300,000. However, foreign broadcasters have to pay a carriage fee of Rs 5 million.

Being an FTA channel, DD Direct only has a one-time charge for dish antennae, set-top box and installation ranging between Rs 4,000 to Rs 8,000 depending on the brand chosen by the consumer.

The country has six private DTH platforms that are operational – Dish TV, Tata Sky, Big TV, Sun Direct, Airtel Digital TV and Videocon D2H. After the guidelines for DTH being issued on 15 March 2001, the sector has grown and at present has about 21.3 million subscribers.

MUMBAI: Reliance Big TV, the direct-to-home (DTH) service provider inder Reliance Communications, has announced a new festival offer for its high-definition (HD) cum advanced digital video recorder (DVR) product.
 
In the new offer, Big TV HD is now available for Rs 4990, while the existing subscribers have to shell out Rs 4490 for the service.

In May, the new service was launched for Rs 7,490. 
 
Big TV Sr VP Umesh Rao said, “At Big TV we always believe in giving exceptional value to our consumers. This festive season too, we plan to add that extra joy by offering India’s first high definition cum advanced digital video recorder at a special price of Rs 4990.”

Big TV is also offering Star Plus and Nat Geo in HD for Rs 50 + taxes per month.

NEW DELHI: The Government is in the process of firming up its view on the recommendations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India which include cancellation or suspension of the licence of a cable operator in case of any breach.

The government is in the process of preparing a comprehensive proposal before it can be taken to the cabinet and then to Parliament.
 
The Government in general is in agreement with the Trai report of 25 July 2008 in this regard. Trai had also made recommendations with regard to payment of tax and restructuring of cable services which will require an amendment of the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Ac 1995. At present, the Act has no provision for cancellation of licence. 
 
But Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting CM Jatua said today that no firm date can be given for this as it requires consultations with stakeholders and other Departments and Ministries.

NEW DELHI: In an important judgment that will affect cable and broadcast services in the country, an order by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat) rejecting a decision to keep commercial establishments outside the purview of cable price regulation was stayed until further orders by the Supreme Court.
 
A Bench comprising Chief Justice SH Kapadia and Justice KS Radhakrishnan stayed the orders of the Tdsat, which had directed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to have a re-look of its policy relating to commercial establishments in a broad-based manner instead of leaving establishments to negotiate on their own with respective broadcasters for their cable tariff.

“You cannot treat every one on par… Until further direction Tdsat order is stayed,” said the apex court.  
 
The Tdsat order of 28 May relates to a Trai‘s notification of November 2006 that kept luxury and heritage hotels out of the purview of price regulations for cable tariffs.
The order came on a petition moved today by ESPN Software India against Tdsat‘s order that effectively prevents them from charging higher tariffs from commercial establishments.

ESPN Software India contended through lawyer Nanju Ganpathy that Tdsat had also failed to give a time frame to Trai to re-look at its policy.

Trai had informed Tdsat during the hearing that it was going into the question of tariff for hotels and commercial establishments through a consultation process. ESPN, therefore, feels that the Tdsat could have waited for this process.

MUMBAI: LG Electronics has unveiled LX9500, the world’s first full LED 3D TV. After a major world-wide launch at the Consumer Electrionics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year, LX9500 is now ready to capture the Indian Market.

Offering clarity with Infinia design, the LX9500 invites viewers to an entirely new world of 3D TV viewing.
 
The LX9500 uses an innovative backlight structure to deliver high-resolution picture quality. Illuminated by LED panels directly behind the screens, the full LED display provides images of clarity and quality.

The TruMotion 400Hz LED panel boasts of an impressive 400 refresh rate per second — good enough to accelerate the advent of ultra high-speed images without sacrificing picture quality. Enriched with 10,000,000:1 dynamic ratio, the LX9500’s mesmerizing 3D technology transports viewer’s right into the heart of action.

The supreme experience in entertainment includes LX9500’s regular programming and content in high-definition 2D, further enhanced by localised spot control for picture quality. In addition, the Wireless AV Link provides the TV seamless connectivity to other AV devices, while NetCast delivers instant streaming via a broadband connection.  
 
LG India MD Moon B. Shin says, “We at LG aim to expand our LCD range with the LED technology. In H2 we are expecting LED LCD TV’s to contribute around 25-30% of our total LCD sales”.

The LX9500 offers a 3D experience. With advanced features and elegant design, LG’s LX9500 is pushing the technological boundaries. Along with our 3D Blu-ray disk player, LG is set to revolutionize 3D home entertainment.

LG India home entertainment head Rohit Pandit says, “Our new 3D line-up is a perfect blend of superb design, latest technology and superior performance. It comes loaded with features like Netcast, DLNA, Blue tooth and wireless connectivity option.”

MUMBAI: BBC.com has launched its new travel site in partnership with its sister company Lonely Planet.

BBC.com/travel is the first in a series of factual and lifestyle sites, alongside BBC.com‘s new US edition.
 
BBC.com/travel is led by Editorial Director, David G. Allan, formerly NYTimes.com Travel and Styles Editor.

BBC.com, already attracting advertisers and 16 million unique users, has secured Emirates as the key sponsor of the travel section.

BBC.com senior VP Miranda Cresswell says, “We know the people who come to BBC.com are curious about the world and look to us to feed that curiosity. BBC Travel will deliver insight, know-how and adventure that connects you to the world. With first person accounts from on the road we will dig into local culture, history and architecture.” 
 
At launch, the site has a range of stories from destinations including Italy, the Caribbean and New York City. Coming soon are a series of specially commissioned stories from BBC contributors and Lonely Planet authors such as the Edinburgh Festival, Japan‘s twist on Fall foliage and life above the Arctic Circle.
Allan says, “Our audience already loves the smart, sophisticated and well researched stories from the BBC. BBC Travel builds on our news and documentary heritage with outstanding travel journalism, and key insights from Lonely Planet‘s authors, to inspire you to leave your desk and have an adventure whatever the destination.”
 

MUMBAI: Hathway Cable & Datacom has posted a first-quarter standalone net loss of Rs 139.28 million on a turnover of Rs 998.27 million.

The multi-system operator‘s (MSO) payout to pay channels during the three-month period ended 30 June stood at Rs 279.14 million out of a total expense of Rs 856.96 million. 
 
Profit from operations (before other income, interest, depreciation and exceptional items) was at Rs 141.30 million, while depreciation/ amortisation/ impairment was at Rs 227.31 million.

On a consolidated basis, Hathway Cable & Datacom posted a revenue of Rs 1.89 billion. Ebitda stood at Rs 374 million for the quarter under review and profit before tax at Rs 16 million. 
 
Hathway is clearly conserving cash. The MSO disclosed that out of Rs 4.8 billion IPO money, it has utilised Rs 1.50 billion as on 30 June 2010.