Category: Software

MUMBAI: In its bid to step up its content-led fight back against Amazon.com‘s ‘Kindle‘ electronic readers, Sony has tied up with 19 new newspaper and periodical partners for its Reader devices.

Immediately available online would be content from the Financial Times, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, with other titles following later, Sony said in a statement.
 
Sony‘s list of new partners will have US national and international brands such as the New York Times and Christian Science Monitor, metropolitan dailies such as the Denver Post and the San Jose Mercury News, The New York Review of Books and Barron‘s, two weekly titles.

Already many publishers have deals with Amazon but others including the Dallas Morning News, the Providence Journal and the New York Observer are not available on the ‘Kindle‘.

Sony has been eager to present itself as a more co-operative partner, willing to offer them a larger share of the revenues and more data about their customers‘ usage than they get from Amazon‘s market-leading device. 
 
Sony did not disclose what its new partners would charge but announced a separate deal on Thursday with three News Corp titles under which the Wall Street Journal will be available for $14.99 a month, MarketWatch.com for $10.99 and the New York Post for $9.99.

At present, Sony‘s Reader devices run no advertising, thus depriving publishers of one of the two revenue streams they enjoy in print. The publishing industry is hoping that future generations of the hardware will introduce a more balanced business model.

Users of Sony‘s 3G Reader daily edition will be able to download updated editions wirelessly but owners of the cheaper ‘Pocket‘ and ‘Touch‘ versions of the Reader will need to connect to their computer.

MUMBAI: DTH operators are now showcasing the Saif Ali Khan-starrer Kurbaan and Salman Khan‘s Wanted on their pay-per-view platform.

Reliance Big TV will premiere Kurbaan on 2 January while Salman Khan‘s Wanted is currently being shown on its platform. Both the films are part of the platform‘s New Year offerings to its subscribers.

Kurbaan and Wanted will be available on Reliance Big TV‘s ppv platform for
Rs 100 and Rs 75 for a 24-hour pass.

Meanwhile, Dish TV is currently showing Kurbaan at Rs 100 per view while Tata Sky is offering both Kurbaan and Wanted at Rs 100 per view each.

Said Reliance Big TV senior vice-president Umesh Rao, “Wanted and Kurbaan are two new releases this year and a definite treat for our subscribers during the festive period of Christmas and New Year. In addition, we are also running a Christmas special on our platform wherein customers buying any ppv film will get a complimentary kid pack too.”

MUMBAI: True Games, the multi-player online games publisher, has officially launched Warrior Epic: Battlegrounds, the game’s first expansion.

The UTV Group company has developed this extension with a multitude of innovative and exciting content, especially for the gaming aficionados.
 
The new features in the game include ‘Fresh PvP Gameplay’ – which offers four new objective-based PvP enabled maps for players to battle in; a new hub city; new swamp region; and new PvP items.

Warrior Epic is an online, action role-playing game set in an original fantasy universe. In the game, players will assume command of a warrior hall from which they manage their characters’ adventures. They can recruit from a wide array of warrior classes, each with its own style of play. The classes and the hall itself can be upgraded visually as well as functionally. Players adventure together in multiplayer campaigns, adventure mode, solo quests and PvP. 
 
One of the unique aspects of Warrior Epic is that death does not mean the end of a warrior. Instead, it opens totally new and strategic options for players.
 

NEW DELHI: No overhead cable in Delhi. That is what the government is working towards ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

The Delhi Municipal Corporation, under pressure to beautify the city for the Commonwealth Games, has asked the cable operators to remove their cables/wires from electricity poles.

An undated notice issued by the Advertising Department of the Corporation says “cable operators functioning in the territorial limits of the Corporation, while operating their networks, unauthorisedly and illegally tie the cables with street light poles as well as hanging over-head” and this not only “looks very shabby but is dangerous to life and spoil the aesthetic beauty of the city.”
 
The Corporation has, thus, requested cable operators to “remove/make alternate arrangement of their cables from the street light poles as well as those hanging overhead within one month.”

The Corporation has threatened that if this is not done, suitable action will be taken by MCD including removal of such cables at the risk and expenses of the cable operators.

Interestingly, the Delhi High Court had way back in 1997 directed the city authorities to find a way to give ‘right of way’ to cable operators.

The electricity authorities had also considered charging cable operators for right of way by taking monthly fee, but no agreement could be reached. 
 
Later in July 2007, the Secretary in the Power Ministry had convened a meeting which had discussed the issue with cable operators. An inter-ministerial committee was set up on 5 March 2008 for rationalising the charges for right of way for the operators and held its first and so far only meeting on 11 June 2008.

Members comprise representatives of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the Ministries of Urban Development, Rural Development, Communication and Information Technology, state governments, and MSO Alliance.

“Cable operators are removing the overhead cable and going underground. The government has been cooperative and this is a project undertaken for the betterment of the city,” says Cable Operators Federation of India president Roop Sharma.
 

NEW DELHI: Direct-to-Home (DTH) subscribers in Delhi have been brought under the entertainment tax regime in Delhi.

This decision was taken by the Delhi Cabinet in a meeting held earlier this month presided over by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. A draft amendment Bill was cleared at this meeting for levying entertainment tax on DTH subscribers and it was slated to come into effect from this month itself. 
 
The residential DTH subscribers will have to pay Rs 20 more per connection on a monthly basis while the entertainment tax would be as high as Rs 50 for the commercial subscribers. Subscribers of cable TV are already paying entertainment tax in Delhi.

Interestingly, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry appears to be unaware of this, as a reply in Parliament on 21 December said only seven states – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Goa, Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Maharashtra – were levying entertainment tax on DTH subscribers varying between Rs 15 to Rs 45 in some states and on percentage basis between six per cent to 30 per cent in others. 
 
This is in addition to the service tax of 10.3 per cent on subscription as well as advertisement revenue..

MUMBAI: China Central Television (CCTV) will launch a national internet television station, CNTV.cn, next week in China.
 
The internet television will act as a national public platform and will concentrate on audio-visual interaction. It will be positioned as a global, multi-lingual and multi-terminal platform. 
 
CCTV.cn will focus predominantly on sports, finance and economy related information.
 

MUMBAI: Digicable Network (India) is increasing its stake in Kolkata-based multi-system operator (MSO) CableComm from 51 per cent to 80 per cent as it plans to inject capital to expand the network in the eastern part of the country.
 
“We are in the process of diluting our stake substantially to make the company more broad-based in digital and Vas (value-added services) areas,” CableComm founder-promoter Dileep Singh Mehta tells Indiantelevision.com.

Singh says he will continue to retain stake in the company, while refusing to specify how much he would hold.

Digicable has invested Rs 300 million in CableComm after acquiring 51 per cent stake in 2008. The focus has been to expand the local MSO’s presence in Kolkata Metropolitan Area and seed digital set-top boxes (STBs). 
 
“We have seeded 25,000 digital STBs and plan to extend our penetration further. We also plan to launch broadband services soon,” says Mehta.

Digi-CableComm Services, as the company is called now, has a presence in 14 out of the 18 districts of West Bengal.

The company recently roped in Indian Cable Net chief executive officer Amit Nag to head its operations. Nag has pulled his core team along with him.

Digi-CableComm has currently retrenched its plans to expand in Orissa. “We had started in Balasore by roping in a few operators. We have decided not to pursue our inter-state ambitions for now and have pulled out of Balasore. Our focus will be to push for digitisation and strengthen our foothold in Kolkata Metropolitan Area,” says Mehta.

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today sought the views of stakeholders on a supplementary consultation paper specifically dealing with certain aspects of tariff related issues as applicable to tariff dispensation for basic and add-on packages in case of DTH services.

The supplementary consultation paper is in continuation with the consultation paper issued on “DTH Issues relating to Tariff Regulation & new issues under reference” dated March 6 this year and was issued after an order of the Tdsat.
 
After giving the necessary background, Trai has sought the views of stakeholders by 18 January 2010. Those stakeholders who have submitted their comments on earlier occasions regarding issues raised in the consultation paper dated 6 March may also submit their revised comments or supplement their earlier comments.

Among other questions, Trai has asked whether there is a need to differentiate various packages for the purpose of wholesale tariff determination, whether there is a need for different wholesale price formulation for a TV channel/bouquet depending upon its inclusion in different packages offered to the subscribers by the DTH operators, whether the wholesale price is to be linked with packaging of the TV channels and what should be the relationship between wholesale prices of a TV channel/bouquet offered by a broadcaster to a DTH operator, if the channel/bouquet is packaged as a part of a basic package, or as a part of add-on-package or both by a DTH operator.

Answers have also been sought on whether DTH operator should extend a la carte mode of service provisioning of a TV channel at the level of subscriber, can the DTH operator offer a la carte option as one of the entry level options for subscribers, and if the DTH operators are required to make available the channels on a la carte basis to the subscriber, then what could be the minimum number of channels and/or minimum subscription price and/or minimum subscription period for subscribing to the channels. 
 
In case of a la carte provision to the subscribers, Trai wants to know if there should be a maximum permitted time frame for servicing request of a DTH subscriber, and whether there is need to identify relationship between wholesale and retail price of that channel.

Trai also wants to know why a DTH operator should not extend a la carte mode of service provisioning of a TV channel at the level of subscriber, and whether the DTH operator can offer a la carte option as one of the entry level options for the subscribers and what should be the minimum number of channels and/or minimum subscription price and/or minimum subscription period for subscribing to the channels.

At the outset, Trai notes that there has been substantial growth in DTH services in the country in last 2-3 years. It has become a major addressable service in distribution of TV signals to the viewers across the country. At present there are six private DTH operators, apart from Doordarshan which provide DTH services to around 15 million subscribers in the country.

MUMBAI: CTC Media is set to launch an international version of its CTC channel in North America through Dish Network that has a reach of 13.6 million subscribers.

The channel will be a 24-hour family entertainment service with a programming grid primarily of CTC shows, 80 per cent of the rest coming from Domashny and Dish TV.

The lineup will include Margosha, Daddy‘s Girls, Ranetki, Cadets, I Want to Believe! and Say What‘s Wrong among others. 
 
Commented CTC Media CEO Anton Kudryashov, “The international launch is an important and long-awaited step for us. We have chosen the North American market as the first target for our international expansion due to its significant potential.

“Moreover, we are confident that there are no comparable offerings among the Russian-language broadcasters in the U.S. In the future, we are also planning to launch an international version of CTC on other broadcasting platforms in the U.S. as well as in Europe where Russian content will be popular with viewers.”  
 
Said senior VP of programming for Dish Network Corporation Dave Shull, “Dish Network is thrilled to become the exclusive satellite platform provider of CTC programming in the U.S. Adding a premium family entertainment channel of such high quality to our already fantastic lineup of Russian programming allows DISH Network to offer our subscribers the most diverse Russian programming options in the country.”

Added CTC Media Irina Shalinets, the director of the international broadcasting department, “We are providing viewers with a combination of the highest-rated content of three Russian networks-CTC, Domashny and DTV-which we believe will be very appealing. We hope that, by the winter holidays, all Russian-speaking audiences in the U.S. will be tuning in to the new world of family entertainment made possible by CTC.” 

MUMBAI: By way of a new share issue, News Corporation has increased its stake in Sky Deutschland from 39.96 to 45.4 per cent.

The company has announced that it has agreed to subscribe up to 49 million new registered shares in Sky Deutschland via a capital increase that is expected to raise between 110 million euros and 120 million euros. 
 
The capital increase is expected to happen in January 2010. The funds will be used for sales and marketing efforts to drive subscriptions upgrading Sky‘s HD capacity ncluding the launch of four new channels next year and investing in programming.

Noted outgoing CEO Mark Williams, “From all we have seen, I am confident that this is the right time to invest in the future growth of this company. I am pleased that News Corporation supports this view. 
 
“More than 350,000 new customers have decided to subscribe to the service since launch. We are excited about the new products and programming that we have coming down the line and believe that customers have much more to look forward to in 2010.”