Category: Software

MUMBAI: Times Group has launched two of its channels – Times Now and Zoom – in Australia and New Zealand.

Starting 1 July, both the channels have been made available on Vision Asia, the independent multi-channel pay television platform that has news and current affairs, cultural and entertainment channels catering to the needs of the South Asian community living in Australia and New Zealand.
 
Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd (BCCL) MD Vineet Jain says, “In line with our efforts to build our television network offerings into global brands, we are pleased to partner with the leading DTH platform in Australia and New Zealand, VisionAsia. It is our endeavor to take the channels to the Indian Diaspora across the globe.”

Times Now and Zoom will provide an opportunity to Indian advertisers and those based in Australia and New Zealand to address consumers in these markets with targeted local advertising, the company said.  
 
Vision Asia CEO Sameer Goswami adds, “We are excited about the launch of Times Now and Zoom on Vision Asia platform. Both are perfect fits with our bouquet and in line with our philosophy of bringing the best from back home, everyday. I am sure that Times Now will be well liked by our customers in ANZ. ZoOm will fulfil the unlimited thirst for the glamour and glitter of Bollywood.”

Other South Asian channels offered by Vision Asia are Sony, Colors, Zee TV, Star Plus, Star One, MTV, SET Max, Star Gold and Zee Punjabi.
 

MUMBAI: Anil Ambani will make an entry into the cable television distribution business, ahead of his plans to roll out TV channels with media conglomerate CBS.

Reliance Communications (RCOM) said Thursday it has agreed to acquire Digicable, a multi-system operator (MSO) with a pan India footprint, in an all-stock deal for an undisclosed sum.
 
Reliance will merge its DTH, IPTV and retail broadband operations with Digicable.

The new entity, named Reliance Digicom, will have an estimated value of $1 billion and a combined subscriber base of 11 million homes.

Reliance is yet to disclose the shareholding in the new entity. Media reports had earlier predicted Reliance would hold 60 per cent while the remaining will be with the Digicable owners including private equity firm Ashmore.

Reliance DigiCom will become Asia‘s largest- and globally the fifth largest- firm to offer triple play services in the form of digital TV, ultra high-speed broadband and voice, Reliance Communications said.

DigiCom plans to offer over 500 digital quality and 100 high-definition channels, IPTV, video-on-demand and gaming services. 
 
“With this game-changing move, we hope to lead the next revolution in digital home entertainment in India,” Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani said.

Reliance ran its digital home entertainment services through Reliance Big TV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Communications.

MUMBAI: It is not unexpected that television still remains the dominant medium through which people in China enjoy the soccer World Cup.

According to a TNS International survey, 77, 34 and 37 per cent of respondents reported that they had watched either live or recorded matches or commentary on TV. 40 per cent of people read the related news or writings in newspaper or magazines, and 16 per cent said that they had listened to live commentary on radio.
 
However, what is worth noting is the extent to which internet and social media are enhancing the consumer experience of the World Cup. By 22 June, people watching the live or recorded matches, or following the games on internet via computer were 49, 35 and 56 per cent respectively.

28 per cent chatted with friends via instant messengers like MSN, or QQ; 19 per cent joined the BBS/forums for discussion and comments; 17 per cent commented on social networking sites like Renren and Kaixin; and 10 per cent shared quick information through their micro-blog accounts. The results also show that the usage of internet and social media will increase further as the competition moves towards its climax. 
 
How are the sponsors doing : Just as popcorn plays a major role in enhancing consumer experience in cinema, snacks and drinks seem to add to the consumer thrill of watching the games on the telly – 50 per cent of them have soft drinks and 32 per cent alcoholic drinks when watching matches. It might be good news for World Cup sponsors like Coca Cola and McDonalds, who invested huge sums of money to display their names on the bill boards around the football fields.
The survey reveals that 72 per cent of Chinese know Adidas is the official sponsor of the World Cup, 65 per cent of them can recognize Coca Cola, followed closely by Visa and Sony with awareness of 61 per cent and 58 per cent. McDonalds, ranking the fifth among all the sponsors, has been identified by 47 per cent of Chinese consumers. The solar energy company Yingli Group, first Chinese brand to sponsor this worldwide game, has become familiar to 20 per cent of the match audience. Not an insignificant achievement considering it was practically unknown to most before the games kicked off.

It is interesting, however, to get consumers’ recognition without paying any sponsorship fee. 45 per cent of Chinese feel Nike is also one of the sponsors of the World Cup 2010 with Pepsi also getting an echo of 38 per cent from the media noise. KFC, competing with McDonalds for the share of consumers’ stomach, also seems to have secured a share of their mind and is wrongly perceived by over 20 per cent of consumers as a sponsor.

The Chinese also predict a Brazil versus Argentina final.

MUMBAI: Zee Turner CEO Dinesh Jain has resigned, ending his three-year stint with the company.
 
Currently serving his notice period, Jain is yet to decide his next career move. “I have a couple of options at hand, both from the media and non- media industry, and I will be taking my decision over the next four weeks. The choice will be more about sticking to the media industry or not.” 
 
While a decision is yet to be taken as to who will take over Jain‘s role in the company, the effective charge currently lies with Zee Turner director on board Karan Kapur.

Prior to joining Zee Turner, Jain was with Anandabazar Patrika for four years as head ad sales.
 

MUMBAI: Private equity firm ChrysCapital has offloaded its entire 6.36 per cent stake in Hathway Cable and Datacom.

The company sold 9.09 million shares in open market bulk deals in BSE and NSE on Tuesday. 
 
The shares were sold between Rs 175.18 to Rs 175.33 per share, fetching ChrysCapital a total of Rs 1.60 billion.

On BSE, SBI Mutual Fund and Reliance Equity Opportunities Fund picked up 1.5 million and 1 million shares respectively, while Reliance Mutual Fund picked up another 1 million shares from NSE.  
 
The PE firm partially exited at the time of Hathway‘s IPO, earning Rs 1.73 billion. With the current transactions, ChrysCapital, thus, got a total of Rs 3.3 billion from its investments in Hathway made through Monet Ltd.

ChrysCapital had acquired 13.26 per cent in Hathway for Rs 2.6 billion.
 

MUMBAI: I Hate Luv Storys, a film co-produced by Dharma Productions and UTV Motion Pictures, is taking its marketing campaign to the mobile gaming segment.

UTV Indiagames announced the launch of the official mobile game for I Hate Luv Storys. The film cast, Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor along with director Punit Malhotra, unveiled the game here in Mumbai today.
  
The mobile game takes gamers into a virtual world of Jay and Simran where they have to step into the shoes of Imran Khan a.k.a Jay and interact with Sonam Kapoor – Simran and Sameer Dattani – Raj for a gaming experience.

The game has four levels and is based on various events that transpire in the movie.

In level one, Theatre Blues, Jay is being forced to watch a film with Simran and Raj and he has a task to irritate Simran without getting caught. Once he succeeds, he moves on to the second level – Love Cocktail, where he has to secretly refill Raj‘s glass and get him completely drunk at Simran‘s cocktail party. The third level is Dance of Envy, where Jay has to groove and perform some jazzy dance moves with Giselle and ensure that Simran gets jealous. And in the fourth level, Race for Love, much like in movies, Jay realises his true love for Simran and has to rush to a theatre and stop Simran before it is too late.  
 
UTV Indiagames COO Samir Bangara says, “This movie has a young star cast that our gaming audience identifies with. The romantic genre was also interesting as we see an increasing mix of women in our user base. The different game experiences including a racing game, ensure appeal across our target audience while keeping with the theme of the movie.”
 

MUMBAI: India‘s broadcast sector regulator clearly feels digital distribution platform providers need a higher foreign direct investment (FDI) cap than their content services counterpart.

In its recommendations sent to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry today, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended increasing FDI limit in DTH, national and state-level cable network operators and teleport to 74 per cent from 49 per cent.

Trai has also recommended the FDI cap on IPTV and Mobile TV to be set at 74 per cent. There is no foreign investment policy on mobile TV at present.

Trai has, however, suggested no change in the 26 per cent FDI cap for news & current affairs TV channels.

On the FM radio front, Trai is in favour of a 26 per cent FDI cap, up from the existing limit of 20 per cent.

“FM radio and news & current affairs channels are of similar nature from the sensitivity point of view and so there is no justification to have different foreign investment limits for these services,” Trai clarified.

With a clear focus on digitisation, Trai has said that the 74 per cent FDI hike would be open only to the MSOs operating at the national or state level and those who are taking up digitisation with addressability. For other MSOs, the foreign investment limit would continue to be 49 per cent.

Trai has also suggested that FDI limit for local cable operators (LCOs) should be at 26 per cent. Earlier they could attract 49 per cent FDI, like the multi-system operators, as there was no policy segregation between the two.

“LCOs are are mostly run by individuals or partnerships, where the requirement of foreign investment may not be an issue. Also the investment requirement of LCO is very much small as compared to broadcasters, MSOs and DTH operators,” the broadcast sector regulator explained.

But why has Trai differentiated between carriage and content services? 
 
Says Trai chairman JS Sarma, “The carriage services are in the nature of infrastructural services whereas content services, especially the news & current affairs services, are considered more sensitive as the power of news content to influence public opinion may have a bearing on maintenance of public order, security of the State, and maintenance of communal harmony.”
Interestingly, in August 2008, Trai had recommended enhancement of the FDI ceiling in news & current affairs from 26 per cent to 49 per cent. “We, however, reviewed the earlier recommendations as the visual impact of the TV channels coupled with almost instant reach to the masses far exceeds the impact of the print media in influencing public opinion,” Trai said.

Monitoring content over numerous TV channels and in different languages across India on a continuous basis is very difficult. “In such a scenario, there is a need to maintain sectoral limit on uplinking of news & current affairs channels. Having regard to this, the earlier recommendation of the authority recommending enhancement of the FDI ceiling from 26 per cent to 49 per cent needs review,” Trai noted.

There will be no restriction on foreign investment for uplinking and downlinking of TV channels (other than news and current affairs TV channels).

Trai also recommended that all foreign investments less than 26 per cent should be through the automatic route. Investments of 26 per cent and above will require prior approval of the government.

MUMBAI: UTV Ignition, the gaming arm of UTV Software Communications, has released the second part of El Shaddai: Assension of the Metratron. This is a two-part epic role playing game, developed by Sawaki Takeyasu of the Devil May Cry fame, and Masato Kimura who has made games like Okami and Viewtiful Joe. 
 
El Shaddai is an RPG based on stories from the Old Testament‘s apocryphal ‘Book of Enoch.‘ In the game, players take on the role of Enoch and must harness his natural combat skills to master a range of powerful and heavenly weapons under the guidance of the watchful Archangels. Only then will he be able to deliver the souls of the Fallen Angels and spare the world from a great flood ordered by Heaven. The game will be released in Xbox 360 and PS3 formats.  
 
Other major games by UTV Ignition include the critically acclaimed Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Arc Rise Fantasia, which will be shipped in the U.S. this month. 

MUMBAI: Zapak.com, the online gaming portal from Reliance ADAG, has launched a new application for the popular social networking site Facebook.

With this launch, Zapak games will feature on Facebook application platform.

The company has made available over 30 different games at present. The users need to add the application to their profile to play the games.
 
Zapak has focused primarily on casual gaming which includes sports, arcade, strategy and action games like Ice Hockey, Street Soccer, Speedway Racing and School Cricket among others.

Zapak VP – product Deepak Abbot said, “Zapak has always believed in reaching out to all gaming enthusiasts and provide them with the best gaming content available. Many of our users visit Facebook frequently and this application will offer them their favourite games even when they are not on Zapak.com. With this they can challenge all their friends for all games and publish their wins to show it off on their profile.” 
 
The application allows users to select games and challenge their friends including those who haven’t installed the Zapak application.

The application also provides a feature – ‘trophy cabinet’ – wherein each user can fill up and show-off their trophies to friends. Users win trophies in each game that they play. Medals are also given on every challenge.

MUMBAI: State-run telecom and internet service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has upgraded its minimum download speed in many of its unlimited download tariff plans offered to home and general users 
 
BSNL has increased the download speed from 256 kbps to 512 kbps. Now BSNL offers BB Home Combo UL 750 plan and BB Home UL 750 plan with 512 kbps download speed (earlier it offered download speed under these plans at 256 kbps).

BSNL also offers a number of unlimited tariff plans to its home users i.e. BB Home Combo ULF 900 plan with 512 kbps download speed, BB Home Combo ULF 1000 Plan with 1 mbps download speed, BB Home Combo ULF 1100 Plan and BB Home Combo ULF 1350 Plan with download speed of 2 mbps. All these are fair usage download plans and the subscriber gets reduced download speed after reaching threshold as indicated in attached tariff plan.

BSNL has also introduced two new plans – BB Home Combo ULF 1499 Plan and BB Home Combo ULF 2999 Plan with unlimited Fair Usage download at 1 Mbps and 2 Mbps speed respectively.  
 
For its general users also, BSNL has upgraded the download speed of its tariff plans offered to corporates, offices, businesses and other non-home users.

Under this category, BSNL has upgraded the download speed of unlimited plans, BBG ULF 3300 and BBG Combo ULF 3300, to 512 kbps from earlier offered speed of 256 kbps.

Similarly, for BBG ULF 6000 and BBG Combo ULF 6000 plans, download speed has been doubled to 1 Mbps when compared to earlier offered speed of 512 Kbps.

For BBG ULF 9000 and BBG Combo ULF 9000 Plans, download speed has been increased to 2 Mbps from earlier offered speed of 1 Mbps. Under BBG ULF 15000 and BBG Combo 15000, the speed has been increased to 4 Mbps from earlier offered speed of 2 Mbps.

BSNL has also introduced two new plans – BBG UL 2150 and BBG Combo UL 2150 – in which the customer gets download speed of 256 kbps for unlimited download with monthly charges of Rs 2150. For the same facility, the customer earlier had to pay Rs 3300 per month.