Category: Software

MUMBAI: The BBC Trust has concluded that plans to launch dedicated BBC smartphone applications (Apps) for BBC News, Sport and iPlayer do not require further scrutiny through a Public Value Test (PVT).
 
The Trust‘s assessment looked at the BBC‘s plans in four areas: the potential impact of the proposed Apps, the financial implications, whether Apps would involve the BBC in a new area of untested activity, and the duration of the proposed Apps.

The Trustees concluded that on impact BBC Apps were likely have a positive impact on users by providing easier access to online content, but would not provide any new content.

In response to industry concerns, the Trust also considered that that there would be some overlap between the BBC Apps and free Apps, but that impacts may not necessarily be large; particularly as BBC content was currently available to mobile users through their phone‘s web browser, that a wide range of high-quality free Apps are already available and that users may choose to access a range of Apps and online content. The degree of overlap with premium or paid Apps was also expected to be lower.

The estimated cost of developing Apps is less than 1 per cent of the current BBC Online budget – substantially less than the 10 per cent threshold at which specific Trust approval and a change to the BBC Online service licence may be required.
 
Considering these factors together, Trustees concluded that the Apps would not represent a significant change to the BBC‘s existing Public Services and that a Public Value Test is, therefore, not required. The Trust also expects the BBC to make its Apps available on other operating systems as soon as possible on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

BBC Trustee Diane Coyle, who led the review, says, “The Apps market is rapidly taking off as more people choose to get their news, sport and other online content while they‘re on the move. The Trust has a duty to represent the interests of licence fee payers, who will increasingly expect to access BBC content in this way, but also to listen to concerns raised by industry. In this case we have concluded that while the Apps market is developing quickly and we will monitor the launch of BBC Apps, a PVT is not required.”

MUMBAI: Broadcasters and cable TV operators have been upset over the sector regulator‘s new tariff order for addressable systems while the loss-making direct-to-home (DTH) service providers have found something to cheer about at last.

Broadcasters are engaged in meetings and are preparing to move the court in a couple of days as they feel the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India‘s pricing system for addressable digital systems will shrink their pay-TV revenues. They are particularly distressed over Trai‘s fixation, for DTH, IPTV and addressable cable, of their individual channel rates at 35 per cent of the corresponding price for analogue cable.

“No other stakeholder has got any kind of relevant order except the DTH players. We are in discussions with other broadcasters to decide on what course of action we need to take,” says Star Den CEO Gurjeev Singh.
 
Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) is canvassing other broadcasters to move the court but no conclusive decision has been taken so far.

When contacted, IBF president and Dish TV MD Jawahar Goel said “We will talk in court now.”

Already drained by hefty carriage fees from cable TV operators, broadcasters feel their subscription incomes could take a hit through an a la carte pricing order and a 35 per cent cost structure which would come into effect from 1 September. Earlier, regulation provided DTH operators to pay broadcasters at 50 per cent of their channel rates for analogue cable.

“What is this tariff order focusing on? It doesn‘t help any MSO or broadcaster. Nor does it help a customer. It is tilted heavily in favour of DTH operators,” said the head of a broadcasting company.

Broadcasters said the new tariff order, if implemented, would force new contracts with DTH players. “We had signed long term contracts. Now those calculations will go for a toss. If DTH is facing intense competition at the retail level, so are we. There are 503 channels beaming into the country, out of which 147 are pay. It is already a highly litigant industry. We are not doing anything to change that,” said a senior executive of a leading channel who did not want his name to be revealed.

DTH operators are not going overboard to welcome Trai‘s tariff order but see several positives emerging from it.

Said Bharti Airtel director and CEO – Airtel Digital TV Ajai Puri: “It is a small step in the right direction. This will marginally bridge the gap between DTH and cable. We had expected the tariff to be brought down to 20 per cent from the analogue price. HD content also should have been part of the review.”  
 
For DTH operators, the content cost is set to fall marginally. “We were already operating at the 35 per cent levels while the tariff order had then put a cap on 50 per cent. The fixed rate deals with the broadcasters were by and large in that corridor. For those channels that didn‘t fall under this system, the costs were at 50 per cent. They will have to come down now,” said the head of a DTH operator who did not want his name to be revealed.

Added Videocon Group director Saurabh Dhoot: “We had asked Trai for a 15 per cent cap. We are a bit disappointed as we hoped Trai would go with a 20 per cent ceiling.” Videocon operates its DTH service under the d2h brand.

Broadcasters, however, do not agree that the content cost would not fall overall. “DTH players will now start benchmarking deals with a sight on 35 per cent. And while Trai has fixed our channel pricing system, there is no cap on what the DTH operators can price a la carte channels to their subscribers,” said a TV broadcast executive.

The cable TV sector is not particularly enthused. Said Digicable MD and CEO Jagjit Singh Kohli, “We were expecting a la carte pricing of channels for analogue cable. And there is nothing for digitisation in non-Cas areas. Though there is a 35 per cent cap on a la carte content for addressable cable networks, this is somewhat neutralised by a 9 per cent inflation allowed for broadcasters.”

Hathway Cable & Datacom MD & CEO K Jayaraman, however, believes there are several positive takeaways and the stage is being set for digitisation in the country. “We now have a common tariff order for all addressable platforms. There is no price cap at the retail level for us. Besides, the regulator has provided for a la carte channels but given us a protection by stating that subscribers of a la carte channels will have to pay a minimum monthly subscription of Rs 150. That provides some support to our ARPUs when we talk of addressable systems.”

MUMBAI: Walt Disney is in talks with to acquire Facebook‘s game developer Playdom for approximately $600 million.
 
According to media reports, the deal is expected to close in the coming week and would extend Disney‘s expansion in online and mobile games.

It is pertinent to note here that last month Disney bought iPhone gaming application developer Tapulous for $35 million.  
 
Over the past one year, Disney has made quite a few acquisitions of games companies in indicating that it wants to become the next gaming powerhouse. 

MUMBAI: After having paid close to $16 billion in license fees, the telecom industry in India needs to invest a further $6-8 billion in capital expenditure to launch 3G.

Frost and Sullivan expects the Indian 3G market to have the potential for 80 million subscribers within three years of launch.
 
The key to make 3G services impactful and adopted by 80 million subscribers would be to generate revenues from advanced services like mobile data, video, and other transformative services.

Conventional solutions are prohibitively expensive and do not scale well because they require building a separate infrastructure for each new service. The challenges exist in two key areas for mobile network operators. First is to support both increased subscriber numbers and the explosion in new services, which will need an upgrade in their core infrastructure to the industry’s new architectural framework for delivering Internet Protocol (IP) multimedia services over mobile networks – IMS. Secondly, mobile network operators need to respond to the demand for rich multimedia content and exploit emerging business opportunities associated with it. 
 
Frost and Sullivan director, ICT Practice APac Jayesh Easwaramony says, “Worldwide, we are in phase 2 of 3G, where the technology is mature, cost per bit has come down, and the smartphone revolution has increased the data revenues of operators globally. India is entering phase 2 of its 3G market evolution, where it is moving from the subscriber acquisition to subscriber retention mode. The combination of these two phases means that Indian operators would do in the next 10 months what the world did over 10 years. They have to make the data strategy work by combining operational best practices and India-specific innovation to justify the business case.”

Frost Sullivan and F5 Networks, which is an application delivery solution provider, presented a two-city Executive MindXchange titled Innovation and Transformation – The Road Ahead for Next-Generation Mobile Operators in India in Delhi and Mumbai. This MindXchange aimed to create a platform to discover how one can protect their existing infrastructure investments, enjoy sustainable cost savings, and while at the same time optimise the delivery of profitable new services.

F5 networks director of systems engineering, Asean and India Lim Chin Keng says, “Overcoming challenges from increasing multimedia services and on-demand content, mobile operators require intelligence in managing context and services. The aim of F5’s Intelligent Service Controller is to empower operators with the needed capabilities and versatility to rapidly create, adapt, scale, and manage new services to enforce more effective policies and satisfy changing subscriber demands. The revenue opportunities from speed and flexibility of delivering new services to groups of subscribers; their improved service quality and experience are certainly worth pondering.”
 

NEW DELHI: NDS will demonstrate at the IBC in Amsterdam how its technology makes it possible for today’s operators to deliver content and services in ways that compliment traditional TV distribution and deliver an enhanced viewing experience for the end user.

NDS will present a range of products and solutions designed to enable pay TV operators to maximise the opportunities offered by new distribution models and expanding markets.
  
The IBC 2010 in Amsterdam is taking place between 10 and 14 September.

As the digital pay-TV market expands, with new business models based on over-the-top (OTT) content delivery and the increased adoption of connected, content-ready devices both in and out of the home, NDS demonstrates how its solutions can help operators not only improve the experience for existing subscribers, but also engage new customers. 
 
NDS will highlight ways in which it enables its customers to optimize on the significant opportunities offered through OTT delivery and the connected environment. As part of this overarching focus, NDS will highlight its capabilities in four key areas of expertise, using its various tools: Enhancing platforms with OTT; Innovation in the User Interface; enabling the experience powering cable, satellite, terrestrial and IPTV deployments, as well as hybrid networks and multi-screen convergence environments; and advanced advertising.

MUMBAI: UK media watchdog Ofcom has published its first annual Digital Progress Report for radio.

This is part of the Digital Radio Action Plan, announced by the government in July, requesting Ofcom to publish an annual report on the availability and uptake of digital radio services.

The UK Government announced its Digital Radio Action Plan this month. Ofcom was asked in the plan to publish an annual report on the availability and take-up of digital radio services. This is the therefore the first of those reports.

The plan emphasises that digital radio switchover should only begin when the market is ready for such a process and that it should therefore be predominantly consumer-led. An aspirational target date of 2015 was supported by the report. But it also concluded that a decision on switchover could only made once two criteria had been fulfilled:

– when 50 per cent of all radio listening is via digital platforms and when national Dab coverage is comparable to FM, and local Dab reaches 90 per cent of the population and all major roads.

The report includes data on digital radio devices share of radio listening. Future editions will also report on the coverage project, designed to measure current levels of FM and Dab coverage. 
 
Digital radio services are available via a number of different platforms including Dab digital radio, digital television (Sky, Freeview, Virgin Media, Freesat), and via the internet (which includes services received on PCs, WiFi internet radios and internet-enabled mobile phones.

In the three months to the end of March 2010, just under a quarter (24 per cent) of all radio stening hours were to services delivered over a digital distribution platform. This was a 4 percentage point (pp) increase in digital listening over the year and an 11pp increase in three years.

The proportion of digital listening varied significantly by demographic group. Listeners under 65 and those from more affluent demographic groups were the most likely to listen to radio over a digital distribution platform. Digital listening was less prevalent among those over 65, and far less so among listeners over 75.

DAB digital radio was the most widely-used means of listening to digital radio services, accounting for almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of all digital listener hours in the first quarter of the year; DTV was the second most popular choice (17 per cent) with streaming over the internet ranking third (13 per cent).

The most listened-to digital-only radio stations also attract significant audiences. Five digital-only stations drew in over a million listeners per week in the first quarter of the year. The Hits was the most popular digital-only station, with a weekly audience of 1.5 million listeners over the quarter although down by 14 per cent year-on-year. BBC 6 Musics reach grew fastest over the past twelve months, reaching over 1 million listeners in Q1 2010 (up by 53 per cent year-on-year). 
 
Ofcom estimates that there are between 70-80 million radio sets in homes (in the form of portables, hi-fis or clock radios) and a further 34 million sets installed in cars and commercial vehicles. The total universe of these sets is therefore estimated to be at least 104 – 114 million.

There are, in addition to sets in the home and in vehicles, analogue radio tuners embedded in other devices such as mobile phones and MP3 players. Digital radio services are also available through digital television decoders, and can also be streamed over the internet to WiFi radios, PCs, and some mobile handsets.

Ofcom consumer research shows radios in vehicles are the most likely sets to be used on a weekly basis (92 per cent of the total). A majority of portable sets are also used weekly (81 per cent); the comparable figures for clock radios and hi-fis are 73 and 66 per cent respectively.

Over 11 million Dab digital radio devices have now been sold in the UK. Ofcom estimates that 14- 16 per cent of radio sets in the home are digital (close to the 11 million DAB digital radio sets that have been sold). In vehicles, it estimates that the number of DAB sets represents around one per cent of the total on the road.

More than one third (34.5 per cent) of households in trhe first quarter of the year claimed to have access to Dab digital radio, up by 2.4 percentage points year-on-year. Take-up varies significantly across the UK. This was highest in east Surrey with over 50 per cent of homes owning DAB, while many regions of Southern England and parts of Yorkshire also had above average ownership. Dab take-up was lowest in Northern Ireland, south-east Scotland and north-west Wales.
 

MUMBAI: HCL Infosystems, the hardware, services and ICT systems integration and distribution company, is entering into the gaming market.

The company is launching HCL ME handheld gaming devices ranging between Rs 799 to Rs 4990.

With this, the company is aiming to reach out to the children of the age-group of 4 to 15 years with special gaming content, rich with unique brain-train features.

HCL said that the interactive gaming experience has been designed to enable affordable mass gaming, backed with interactive content to sharpen the analytical skills and intelligence quotient.
 
HCL Infosystems executive VP George Paul said, “We are committed to introduce innovative models for interactive content delivery and we believe gaming is one such way to bring the days of Crosswords and Sudoku back on a gadget that is appealing to especially children in the period of education foundation. With gaming gaining popularity amongst the children and teenagers, we think affordable gaming devices backed by rich educative content can be the answer to engage them with games that tests and challenges their analytical abilities.”  
 
HCL ME Gaming will look to offer ‘an absolute value for money’ gaming devices, even converged with multimedia options like imaging, recording along with various education and entertainment features. The gaming consoles will be available at various game retailers and HCL ME Exclusive stores.

MUMBAI: As part of its pay- per- view (PPV) portfolio, Airtel digital TV has announced the TV premiere of the Hollywood blockbuster, The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

The film, adapted from the best selling novel of the same name by Stephenie Meyer, brings together Robert Pattinson and Kirsten Stewart for the second time after Twilight.
  
The Twilight Saga: New Moon is directed by The Golden Compass fame director Chris Weitz and this critically-acclaimed romantic thriller won both Robert Pattinson and Kirsten Stewart numerous awards including MTV Movie Awards and Teen Choice Awards. Kirsten Stewart won BAFTA Award for Rising Star for this film.

Announcing the premiere, Bharti Airtel chief marketing officer- DTH services Sugato Banerji said, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon has been one of the most eagerly awaited movies in recent times because of its unique storyline. We continue to add a variety of titles for customers who find the convenience and simplicity of pay- per-view (PPV) a great way to catch up with their favourite movies.”  
 
Airtel digital TV customers can view this film by paying Rs 50. The film will be available on Airtel digital TV from 24 July on channel no. 183. Customers can book the movie and enjoy multiple shows running on this channel. 

MUMBAI: Alcatel-Lucent has unveiled a turnkey, compact IPTV solution, powered by Microsoft Mediaroom, that is designed to cost-effectively support networks of between 1,000 and 100,000 set-top-boxes in the US.

The solution not only provides television programming, but also enables new consumer media services through the blending and personalisation of web and broadcasting content. This new offer, which uses a single equipment rack, supports more than three times as many households than previous versions of the Microsoft Mediaroom-based IPTV solution.
 
Cinergy MetroNet is the first customer to use the solution and will begin offering Alcatel-Lucent-powered IPTV services to six cities in Indiana, reaching approximately 50,000 potential customers beginning 26 July 2010.

The Alcatel-Lucent IPTV offer, called the Integrated Solution for Microsoft Mediaroom, is a substantially modified version of an existing solution that Alcatel-Lucent has previously deployed in more than 25 large networks globally. The system uses Internet protocol (IP) technology to transmit the television signals and, thanks to the power and flexibility of IP, enables carriers such as Cinergy to offer a variety of new services.

Yankee Group principal analyst Vince Vittore says, “The needs of operators serving smaller customer bases are unique because they often don’t need large multi-rack solutions. Alcatel-Lucent’s approach to this market is unique because it combines a great user experience with a reasonable price point and leverages its experience as a video integrator.”
 
This new Integrated Solution is designed to meet the cost requirements of regional communication service providers (CSPs) such as Cinergy MetroNet who serve local and regional markets.
Cinergy MetroNet CEO John Cinelli says, “We want to provide our customers superior service and access to such capabilities as WholeHome DVR, interactive applications and over-the-top content. Alcatel-Lucent’s IPTV solution fits our business needs and gives us a powerful, flexible, and differentiating tool to deliver IPTV-based services to our customers.”

Cinergy MetroNet plans to offer its customers multimedia services such as broadcast TV blended with web content; the ability to simultaneously record multiple shows while watching another; and the delivery of personalized content such as weather, traffic and news.

Alcatel-Lucent’s Multimedia Integration Services group VP Geeta Chaudhary says, “Operatorswho support from 1,000 to 100,000 set-top-boxes are underserved when it comes to IPTV and next generation multimedia services. To address this need we created an optimised IPTV solution that is pre-integrated and lab tested, minimising the technical and commercial risks associated with launching IPTV services. We estimate that more than 11 million new IPTV subscribers will be served by regional communication service providers in the coming three years and this compact release is designed to help our customers better address this huge opportunity.”

In this release of the solution, Alcatel-Lucent has integrated innovative technology from Microsoft and HP. Some key features of the new solution:

The solution, based on Microsoft’s Mediaroom Hyper-V architecture, includes a unique design integration by Alcatel-Lucent that more than triples the number of set-top-boxes supported in a single deployment and reduces the number of servers needed.

This solution is further optimized when deployed on HP BladeSystem with HP Virtual Connect technology, reducing the complexity of the architecture and increasing flexibility to respond to change in workload demands.

The small physical footprint means a much “greener” deployment with reduced overall energy and operating costs.

Pre-tested in Alcatel-Lucent’s end-to-end IP Transformation Center (IPTC) laboratories, resulting in reduced technical risk and improved time to market by as much as 30 per cent.
Alcatel-Lucent also supports regional communications service providers with a host of IPTV consulting services such as: end-user insight, demand analysis, IPTV services definition and launch as well as the end-to-end management.

MUMBAI: Dish TV has posted a fiscal first-quarter net loss of Rs 631.8 million compared to a loss of Rs 692.05 million a year ago.

The first-quarter loss has increased from the previous three months in which the leading DTH service provider had posted a loss of Rs 598 million.

Amassing 0.64 million subscribers during the quarter to take its total base to 7.5 million (net subscriber base 6.17 million), Dish TV has reported operating revenues of Rs 3.11 billion, up 23.4 per cent from the earlier year. The income in the trailing quarter was Rs 3.04 billion.
 
Average subscriber acquisition cost (SAC) stood at Rs 2,147, while ARPU (average revenue per user) was at Rs 139.

Dish TV‘s expenditure during the quarter was Rs 2.72 billion, significantly lower then Rs 3.01 billion in the year ago period, while it was Rs 2.68 billion in the trailing quarter.

Dish TV chairman Subhash Chandra said, “The category recorded a phenomenal 2.5 million subscriber additions in the first quarter of the current fiscal, moving closer to becoming the largest DTH market in the world in terms of subscribers. Dish TV maintained its leadership position while garnering an all time high incremental market share of 25 per cent.”
 
Dish TV MD Jawahar Goel added, “The DTH market in India witnessed sustained expansion through the first quarter of the current fiscal with the category recording around 25 per cent YoY growth. Dish TV outperformed the market by recording a strong growth of 46 per cent. Growth in subscriber numbers triggered operating leverage thus significantly reducing content cost as a percentage of revenues to a new low of 40 per cent.”

Dish TV will continue to endeavour towards strengthening its ARPU levels.

“We believe that services like High Definition (HD), Video on Demand and Value Added Services (VAS) are instrumental in achieving that in the long term. However, in the current regime of subsidizing content cost, any spike in activations may exert a temporary pressure on the overall ARPU. The ARPU for the quarter was marginally up at Rs 139,” said Goel.

During the quarter, Dish TV launched its HD service Dish Tru HD and also added eight new channels belonging to varied genres like infotainment, sports, Hindi movies, GEC and devotional.

Meanwhile, it said that the FIFA World Cup 2010 turned out to be a big draw and resulted in increased DTH activations on a pan-India basis. The activations for the month of June were an approximate 240,000, recording a 83 per cent growth over the earlier year.