Category: Software

MUMBAI: Big FM, the radio division of Reliance Media World, is partnering with telecom Vas (value added services) provider OnMobile Global in a move that will enable it to provide a mobile platform for its radio service.

Operating under the brand Big Mobile Radio, Big FM will give mobile users the option to listen to 17 multi-lingual specially programmed channels anywhere in India.

This service will also be available in select global markets including Malaysia, Singapore, UAE, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia which have large Indian communities.
 
The alliance will also enable Big Mobile Radio to expand from 45 cites to over 4500 cities and towns including rural areas in an ad-free format. This service will also allow users to listen to the programmed channels regardless of their location.

Big Mobile Radio will create special feeds for mobile listeners which include an assortment of entertainment options like songs, Bollywood entertainment, jock talk, humour, and health tips.

Reliance Media World business head – allied businesses Rabe T Iyer said, “We are excited to join hands with OnMobile. This partnership only strengthens Big FM’s endeavour to grow radio audiences both within India and the world over. Our effort is to reach radio to the deepest pockets of India, while growing the Indian diaspora overseas, giving them the flavour of radio from back home.”
 
OnMobile president and COO Sanjay Uppal added, “Using our innovations in technology we are happy to re-shape the radio medium from being a city-centered service to a global service accessible on any mobile.”
The operators who will offer the Big Mobile Radio service are yet to be announced.

NEW DELHI: In a move that would encourage digitisation, the government today announced provision of project import status at the concessional customs duty of 5 per cent on investment in digital head-end equipment.
 
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget for 2010-11 also announced that there will be full exemption from special additional duty to the initial setting up of such projects. 
 
Mukherjee said cable transmission of entertainment was undergoing a transformation with the adoption of digital technology and multi-service operators (MSOs) want to invest in digital head-end equipments in keeping with the times.

The conferment of project import status will also spare importers of such digital head-end equipment from various procedural and valuation rigour. Clearances will be faster and relatively hassle free.

The concession on customs duty should help faster digitalisation of the cable TV sector.
 

MUMBAI: Airtel digital TV, the DTH service from Bharti Airtel, is set to premiere the latest film from the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince, on its pay per view (PPV) service.

The movie will be available from 27 February on channel number 210, priced at Rs 70. 
 
Said Bharti Airtel chief marketing officer Sugato Banerji, “We have received good response from our viewers in the past and hope to replicate the same with Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince.” 
 
The movie is a 2009 fantasy-adventure based on the novel of the same name by JK Rowling. It is directed by David Yates. David Heyman and David Barron produced the film and the screenplay was written by Steve Kloves. 

NEW DELHI: The much-awaited 3G auction is to start on 9 April and the BWA auctions will be held two days after the close of the 3G auction.

The notice for inviting auctions will be issued on 25 February and these will close on 19 March.

Details of ownership of the applicants will be published on 26 March and the pre-qualification of bidders will be decided on 30 March.

The mock auctions will be held on 5 and 6 April.
 
Earlier, Parliament had been informed that the response of domestic telecom service providers was reasonably good, and foreign companies had not been specifically invited for the pre-bid conference on 16 November 2009 relating to prospective 3G and BWA spectrum auction participants.

It was clarified that the Notice Inviting Application (NIA) will address all the concerns expressed during the pre-bid conference.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had in October 2009 issued a Consultation Paper on “Overall Spectrum Management and review of license terms and conditions”. The issues raised in the consultation paper for deliberation include spectrum requirement & availability, licensing issues, merger & acquisition issues, spectrum trading, spectrum sharing, perpetuity of licences, uniform licence fee, spectrum assignment, spectrum pricing and structure for spectrum management.

The Government earned Rs 34.55 billion from spectrum fee during 2008-09 and about Rs 9.17 billion in the first quarter of 2009-10.

Spectrum fee is charged as a percentage of the Adjusted Gross Revenue of the telecom service providers and is regulated by the Trai.

Detailed guidelines for 3G spectrum were issued on 1 August 2008 and some amendments were brought in on 11 September the same year.  
 
At present, only the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) have permission to provide 3G services in the country.

While MTNL and BSNL will not take part in the auction for 3G services in the telecom sector, they will pay the matching price of successful bidders.

While MTNL provides the service in Mumbai and Delhi, BSNL provides the services in 100 cities. One spectrum of 5 MHz has been provided to MTNL in Mumbai and Delhi and BSNL in the 20 service areas.

MUMBAI: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group in the US has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Rocksteady Studios, a privately held developer of interactive entertainment targeted at teens and adults.

This continues Warner Bros.’ activities as a games publisher.
 
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group president Kevin Tsujihara says, “Rocksteady demonstrated its professionalism and extraordinary development abilities with Batman: Arkham Asylum. This arrangement is a great strategic fit and we are very pleased to solidify our relationship with this talented development team.”

Founded in 2004 in London, England, Rocksteady specialises in developing action-adventure video games, including Batman: Arkham Asylum. The title has shipped over three million units worldwide.

Warner Bros. continues to grow its games business through key acquisitions, building internal development capabilities, leveraging its global video distribution infrastructure, and focusing on developing major games franchises such as Batman, Mortal Kombat, The Lord of the Rings and Lego. 
 
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment president Martin Tremblay says, “With the successful release of Batman: Arkham Asylum, a franchise that is a key focus for Warner Bros., Rocksteady has proven that they have the expertise to create hit games with mass appeal. We are currently working with Rocksteady on the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum and look forward to bringing the continuation of the franchise to fans worldwide.”

Warner Bros. UK president, MD Josh Berger says, “We are delighted to be deepening our relationship with London-based Rocksteady Studios, one of the UK‘s most respected games developers and 2009 recipient of the VGA’s coveted ‘studio of the year’ award. Rocksteady clearly has the talent, expertise and technology to make great games and we are fortunate to continue working closely with them as we further expand our games portfolio.”

In 2007, Warner Bros. acquired TT Games, developer of the Lego-based game franchises, including Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones and Lego Batman. Early last year, Warner Bros. acquired Snowblind Studios to develop its The Lord of the Rings games franchise, with the first title expected to be released in 2011. Most recently, Warner Bros. purchased the primary assets of Midway Games.

Midway published the Mortal Kombat franchise, which has sold over 26 million units worldwide, and owned a robust IP catalog and broadly applicable game engine technology. As part of the transaction, Warner Bros. acquired two development studios to focus on the Mortal Kombat franchise as well as other key properties.
 

MUMBAI: NDS, which provides technology
solutions for digital pay-TV, has announced that On Digital Media has selected it as technology provider and prime integrator to support the launch of its direct-to-home (DTH) platform in South Africa. The new service, TopTV, will go live later this year.
 
On Digital Media will secure their MPEG4 DVB-S2-based service using NDS’ VideoGuard conditional access technology. To enable the platform and provide the basis for future functionality, NDS MediaHighway® set-top box software and an NDS developed electronic programme guide (EPG) will also be implemented.

The launch of the TopTV platform will provide South Africans with a choice of satellite service providers. TopTV will offer a competitively-priced basic package of approximately 30 channels. On Digital Media will offer subscribers the flexibility to tailor their services to their own requirements and budget.
 
NDS VP regional sales Europe, Middle East and Africa Giles Wain says, “On Digital Media is bringing pay-TV to middle-income households in South Africa for the first time. This represents a key win for NDS as we expand our presence in the emerging pay-TV market across the continent.”

MUMBAI: In a bid to expand its distribution across EMEA in 2010, business and financial news channel CNBC has launched on the subscription-free satellite platform, Freesat. 
 
In January, CNBC was launched on Virgin and TalkTalk.

The UK version of the channel carries seven hours of programming from CNBC‘s London studios, including the one-hour Strictly Money, aimed directly at retail investors and small business owners.

MUMBAI: The Economic Times, ET Now and economictimes.com have joined hands with the social networking site Facebook, to let users share their thoughts with the finance minister regarding the Union Budget for the financial year 2010-11.

The new initiative, ‘ET-Facebook: Talk to FM’, will give users an opportunity to post their views/suggestions, which ET will present to the FM.
 
 
With the initiative, users will not only post their expectations with the budget but also their views/suggestions after the presentation of the Budget by logging on to the economic times website.

Speaking about the strategic alliance, Times Internet Limited CEO Rishi Khiani said, “We are happy to associate with Facebook – it‘s a unique win-win association between the social networking site and business news portal. We are pioneering popular participation in the preparation of the Budget while providing realtime feedback to the Finance Minister from the vox populi.”
 
“All over the world, people use Facebook to start and engage in discussions about things that are important to them. By powering this program with Facebook Connect, the Economic Times is helping provide people in India an easy way to take part in and express their views on the National Budget discussions.” said Facebook VP of User Growth, Mobile and International Chamath Palihapitiya.

MUMBAI: Comcast is launching Secure Backup and Share to help its high-speed Internet customers reduce their risk of losing important files that are saved on their computers.

Comcast says that it wants to help reduce the risk of data loss and is encouraging consumers to backup and secure their digital files.
 
Comcast senior VP, GM of Communications and Data Services Cathy Avgiris says, “Secure Backup and Share is embedded into our high-speed Internet service so you can retrieve and share your personal digital media from any Web-enabled or wireless device. Our cloud based storage solution will provide our customers with the backup and storage they need today as well as in the future.”   
 
Secure Backup and Share allows customers to backup and share important files and offers features including:

* Online access for offsite backup – In the event of human error, a fire or a natural disaster, files are stored remotely and can be restored.
* Convenient sharing – A personalised Web site allows customers to share their photos, videos, music and documents with family and friends. Many backup applications offer an online vault, but few support mobile access to backed up content for convenient access and sharing on as many devices as Comcast.
 

MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) has entered into a joint venture with US-based digital media company Mail.com Media Corporation (MMC) to launch an online and mobile entertainment portal.

The company has appointed Arvindra Singh Kanwal, who has 23 years of experience in business strategy, marketing, sales and operations, as the CEO of the joint venture. He has worked Hindustan Unilever, Sony Entertainment Television, Indian Express Online Media Ltd and Rediff.com.
 
The JV company is launching a content-centric portal will offer users a broad range of entertainment viewing options and other leading portal applications. The launch date and name of the site, however, are yet to be disclosed.

Says Zeel CEO and MD Punit Goenka, “This partnership comes at the right time as India’s inclination towards digital entertainment is increasing. Being pioneers in the media and entertainment sector in India, it is most natural for us to provide wholesome entertainment to our viewers. With the launch of this portal, we will reinforce Zeel as the one-stop destination in entertainment.”

MMC, founded by Jay Penske in 2004, owns and operates the Mail.com email service and portal, a global multi-media platform. In addition, MMC owns a portfolio of lifestyle brands that provide original content in categories including entertainment, sports, breaking news, media, finance, health, beauty, shopping, fashion and automotive. 
 
Says Penske, “We are thrilled to be entering India through this long-term partnership with Zee Entertainment-and look forward to leveraging our digital capabilities and content, to enable the portal to meet the evolving online and mobile needs of audiences at this exciting time within the media landscape of India.”

Some of the brands of MMC portfolio include Mail.com, Hollywoodlife, OnCars, Movieline, Deadline, Fan, Young Hollywood Awards, Hollywood Style Awards, Fashion Rocks, Hamilton Behind the Camera Awards and Breakthrough of the Year Awards.