Category: Software

MUMBAI: Communications company Aircel has announced partnership with Oracle to deploy Oracle Communications Services Gatekeeper and Oracle Fusion Middleware on its platform.

The deal will provide Aircel a scalable and personalised content delivery platform for new revenue generation, the company said.

Aircel claims more than 31 million customers in 18 circles (states) and have ambitious plans to grow to more than 50 million customers this year. Earlier, Oracle had deployed its communications service fulfillment software, Siebel CRM, and Oracle Database.
 
With the new deal, Aircel will be able to offer a new personalised multi-channel content portal where customers can access a large catalog of messaging, images, music, videos, games, news and regional services; and support flexible billing and delivery models. It will allow customers to manage real-time content, searches and subscription offerings via SMS requests, interactive voice response (IVR) and the multi-channel portal.

Additionally, Oracle Communications Services Gatekeeper will enable Aircel to offer a secure partner self-service web portal that makes it easier for third-party content providers to rapidly onboard and scale their content and applications, and manage offerings within their own micro-portals; support new and flexible pricing strategies and accelerate the development of new communication applications; and monetise and generate incremental revenue from its network.
 
“Aircel plans to leverage open standards-based service delivery platform solutions as the basis for delivering interactive and personalized data services for our customers,” Aircel COO Gurdeep Singh said.

Added Aircel chief information officer Ravinder Jain, “We partnered with Oracle to help maintain our leading edge in the communications industry. Oracle solutions such as Oracle Communications Services Gatekeeper and Oracle Fusion Middleware offer us the competitive advantage of reaching the market faster with integrated solutions.”
 

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which had asked all cable operators to give information relating to tariff for cable television in non-Cas areas, has now issued a simplified version of its format in different Indian languages for small cable operators having less than 500 subscribers to speed up the process.

Trai had undertaken the exercise following orders of the Supreme Court order on 13 May 2009 but the Court on 18 January 2010 wanted that the work should be completed by 30 June 2010.
 
The Court directed all stakeholders to cooperate in this exercise and Trai also sought the cooperation of all the cable operators to comply with the directions of the Court. The simplified version of the format is in different Indian languages and has to be submitted by 28 February 2010 ‘positively’.

Trai had requested all the stakeholders to complete the submission of information about their financial and operational figures in the prescribed formats by 15 February 2010.
 
According to Trai, the simplified format was issued following representations from some quarters indicating some small cable operators that they did not have access to computers and they were unable to understand the format fully. An advertisement in this regard has also been published in different regional languages in local newspapers.

MUMBAI: Viacom18 Media, the joint venture between Viacom Inc. and Network 18 Group, has officially announced the launch of its flagship Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) Colors in the UK.

The channel, which was soft launched in UK on 25 January, is available on sky platform’s EPG No 829. 
 
The GEC, which was recently launched on Dish Network in US as Aapka Colors, will be available free-to-air for some time in UK and then subsequently will be added to the ViewAsia package. Colors brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan will front the channel in the UK.

The channel will offer a blend of entertainment programmes, from reality and drama series through to comedy, game shows, and Bollywood films.  
 
“After having successfully consolidated our leadership position in India, I have no doubt that we will be able to replicate our success in key international markets like US and UK as well. One of our key strategies for UK is that there will be no lag in the telecast of episodes versus India thus ensuring that the viewers in this market are always up to speed with all of our key shows,” Viacom18 COO and Colors CEO Rajesh Kamat said in a statement.

Viacom18 Board Director and MTV Networks International’s Emerging Markets group MD and EVP Bhavneet Singh added, “Our aim is to bring compelling and innovative programming to all Hindi audiences outside the Indian sub-continent, across all generations. There is a huge appetite for Hindi language entertainment and we are confident that Colors will quickly become the ultimate family entertainment destination for Asian communities across the UK.”

MUMBAI: The six-year-old San Diego online video-sharing Web site Veoh Networks is shutting down, citing the rough economic climate and legal issues. 
 
The company had attracted venture capital support, but couldn‘t match competition like YouTube. 
 
Veoh co-founder Dmitry Shapiro says, “Unfortunately, great vision, a passionate team, tens of millions of users, millions in revenues and victory in court were not enough. The distraction of the legal battles and the challenges of the broader macro-economic climate have led to our Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

“We grew our passionate audience base to over 28 million users per month, built a business with a run rate of $12 million, and helped educate many blue chip advertisers about the bright future that online video holds for them.”

MUMBAI: Wire and Wireless India Limited (WWIL) has roped in Ravinder Taneja as senior VP – sales and operations for HITS (Headend-In-The-Sky).

Prior to WWIL, he was working with Tata Teleservices as VP – Enterprise Business.

WWIL is the only cable company that has a licence for HITS, a technology that will provide multi-system operators a national footprint and speed up the digitisation process in the country. It has invested Rs 1.5 billion for HITS.
 
Taneja comes with 21 years of experience in operational processes relating to acquisition cost and budgetary control, market planning, distribution and channel development, product and communication including brand retail. 
 
Taneja has also worked in different capacities with P&G, Godrej, Pepsi Co, Candico India, PVR Pictures and Hindustan Times.

His key achievements include developing new businesses into sizeable operations, setting up operations and bottling plants for Pepsi, setting up operations and printing facilities for Hindustan Times.

MUMBAI: Zapak Games, the licensing and merchandising arm of online gaming company Zapak Digital Entertainment, has announced the launch of Beados, a creative game for kids in the age group of 4 -14 years.

Beados has come out with four variations of the game to cater to this age group – Beados Starter Pack, Beados Activity Pack, Beados Super Studio and Beados Jewellery Pack. These will now be available across toy stores and large format stores in the country. 
 
Zapak says that it has a distribution network of over 5000 retail outlets in more than 100 cities.
 

MUMBAI: US pay TV service provider Dush Network has announced a substantial expansion of what it says is the largest high definition lineup in the US with the introduction of nine new HD channels: Fox Soccer Channel HD, Sportsman HD, Hallmark Channel HD, IndiePlex HD and RetroPlex HD, which are only available on Dish Network, as well as truTV HD, E! HD, BBC America HD and Showtime (West) HD.
 
Dish Network now broadcasts more than 160 HD channels.
Dish Network chairman and CEO president Charlie Ergen says, “Dish Network continues to extend its HD leadership with the launch of nine additional high-quality, sought-after HD channels. We continue to deliver on our commitment to give our customers the breadth and depth of top HD programming they ask for at a value unmatched by any other pay-TV provider.” 
 
E! HD is available in America‘s Top 120 package. BBC America HD, Hallmark Channel HD and truTV HD are located in America‘s Top 200 Package; Fox Soccer Channel HD and Sportsman HD are offered in the America‘s Top 250 Package; Showtime (West) HD is located in the Showtime Unlimited Package; and IndiePlex HD and RetroPlex HD are in the PlatinumHD Package. Access to all HD channels requires a subscription to HD programming. 

MUMBAI: Broadcasting and telecom policy officials will speak at the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (Casbaa) India Satellite Industry Forum 2010 in New Delhi on 22 March.

The forum kicks off with a keynote by Trai chairman Dr. J.S. Sarma. Dr. Ashok Chandra, wireless advisor to the Ministry of Communications, will deliver introductory remarks for a panel session on the co-existence between new and traditional communications services. 
 
Titled On the Digital Edge – Where Broadband HITS the Streets, the forum features the Indian leadership of the satellite, broadcasting, broadband, media, advertising and technology sectors.  
 
Confirmed speakers also include IPTV Forum India chairman Shyamal Ghosh, Bharti Airtel CEO Ajai Puri, Dish TV COO Salil Kapoor, Dentsu India Group chairman Sandeep Goyal, Digital Entertainment Network president SN Sharma, Scripps Networks president Greg Moyer, Reliance Big Entertainment president Rajesh Sawhney, Tata Sky MD and CEO Vikram Kaushik, WiMax Programme, Intel India and South Asia and Middle East MD CS Rao, Intelsat regional VP, Asia Pacific David Ball and PricewaterhouseCoopers associate director Smita Jha.

The forum is sponsored by Eutelsat, Intelsat, Oracle, NDS, Scripps Networks and SES World Skies.
 

MUMBAI: SES Astra has signed a long-term agreement with M7 Group for two additional transponders on Astra 23.5 degrees East.

The newly contracted capacity will be used for the further extension of the HDTV lineup of CanalDigitaal, M7 Group’s direct-to-home (DTH) platform for the Dutch market. It will bring the number of total transponders contracted by M7 Group at this orbital position to four.
 
The Luxembourg-based M7 Group provides DTH-services in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg using the brand names CanalDigitaal, TV Vlaanderen and TéléSat.

Following the agreement, CanalDigitaal will launch new HD channels from this month including HD channels from the Dutch public broadcaster NPO, and commercial broadcasters RTL and SBS. As a result, the CanalDigitaal HD channel lineup for the Dutch market will more than double over the next three months.

In addition to the four transponders now contracted by M7 Group at 23.5 degrees, M7 Group currently also operates four transponders at the Astra 19.2 degrees East position. By using an Astra Duo LNB, Dutch DTH homes are capable of receiving programmes from both orbital positions via a single fixed dish. 
 
SES Astra CCO Alexander Oudendijk says, “We are very pleased with this new agreement as it further strengthens our solid and long-standing relationship with the M7 Group. The agreement confirms the rapid success and key importance of ASTRA 23.5 degrees East as a fast-growing HDTV hotspot for the Benelux. It also demonstrates that in markets dominated by land-based infrastructures, satellite DTH plays a key role for the development of the HDTV market. With the launch of additional HD channels at 23.5 degrees East, ASTRA becomes the largest HD platform in the Netherlands with a lineup of over 20 HDTV channels, including all major public and commercial channels.”

M7 Group executive VP Andrei Noppe adds, “In 2010, more than 80 per cent of Dutch TV homes will be equipped with a TV set suitable for HDTV. That fact, combined with the World Championship Soccer tournament coming soon, should result in a further take-up of HD over the coming months. This agreement with SES Astra allows us to meet this demand with an attractive and wide range of HD services. Coupled with the fast growing free-to-air offer on Astra, we believe that satellite DTH is the most attractive infrastructure to capture the HDTV needs in the Dutch market.”
 

MUMBAI: In a significant strategic development, Internet television company WatchIndia.tv has announced the launch of set-top box (STB) for streaming live Indian TV channels on television.

WatchIndia.tv said it has developed the box using the latest IPTV technology. The box is a small unit that connects to the broadband router on one end and to the television set on the other. 
 
The system allows the customer to watch TV directly through their standard television sets. Customers can then switch channels easily between their traditional television provider and the WatchIndia.TV service.

From the beginning of this month, WatchIndia.TV has soft-launched the STB service through a combination of existing customers and those who’ve previously expressed an interest in signing up.  
 
WatchIndia marketing executive Pradeep Parminder said, “In line with this momentous launch, all new customers signing up for the Live India TV services can purchase a discounted STB at the signup stage. All new signups will enjoy a 33 per cent discount on their chosen Indian channel package. In addition, customers will also receive a $50 off on the box.”

WatchIndia.TV is the first site from Live Asia TV. It has partnered with channels like Zee TV, Zee Sports, Zee Marathi, Zee Telugu, Zee Bangla, Zee Kannada, Zee Punjabi, Zee Cinema, Zoom, Times Now, Aastha, NDTV Profit, NDTV Imagine, 9X and 9XM, Saam TV, Mahuaa TV, Raj TV Network and ETV Network.