Category: Software

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has acquired the Video Game Awards 2009 (VGAs) for its Animax channels.

The event will broadcast on Animax channels across Asia, Central Europe, Latin America, Brazil, Africa, Spain and Portugal, reaching over 42 million households in 59 countries, beginning January 2010. Animax will support the VGAs on animaxtv.com with a dedicated suite of web content designed to fuel gamer interest around the world and to complement the on-air experience.
 
SPT executive VP, programming and production, international networks Marie Jacobson says, “The Video Game Awards lands on Animax at a key juncture in our development as a youth-seeking global brand. This category represents a core focus for the network and our 14-24 year-old target audience. We look forward to expanding the worldwide footprint and influence of the VGAs.”

The two-hour live event will be taped in Los Angeles, California and will premiere in the US on Spike TV on 12 December. Fans determine award recipients by voting for favourite nominees at VGA.Spike.com.

The 2009 Video Game Awards will break international news with announcements of new games from the industry‘s leading publishers including 2K, Activision, Disney Interactive Studios, Electronic Arts, LucasArts Entertainment, Microsoft Game Studios, Sony Online Entertainment, THQ, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. This year VGA viewers will get a sneak peek at Halo: Reach with the debut of an exclusive, world premiere video from the opening of the game. 
 
SPT will also create a suite of online, mobile, and social networking companion content to the award show broadcast. These features will include Video Game Award photos, event news, game trailers, and original interviews with game creators and game development executives and educators offering career advice to aspiring gaming professionals.

The companion content will also include components custom to each international region courtesy of local bloggers and moderators populating appropriate social networking pages and community groups and commenting on the local gaming scene.
 

MUMBAI: YouTube has signed a multi-territory deal with SportAccord to create Sports Hub that would feature more than 2,000 videos from a large variety of sports.

Chad Hurley, the co-founder and chief executive of YouTube, announced the news with Hein Verbruggen, the president of SportAccord, in Paris at Le Web 2009.
 
Said Hurley, “We see a lot of content but this is some of the best content we‘ve seen for engaging audiences about things they care about. It‘s compelling, and this is what YouTube is all about celebrating diversity.” 
 
Sports Hub will feature a mix of short and long form content showing matches, competitions, interviews, behind-the-scene footage and educational material. SportAccord groups together 104 World Sports Federations, including, basketball, swimming and the Paralympics.

Other federations that would find place in the portal include cycling, karate, American football and wrestling. All video material on the site would be ad supported.
 

MUMBAI: US media conglomerate Time Warner has completed the previously announced spin-off of US net service provider AOL.

One share of AOL common stock was distributed for every eleven shares of Time Warner common stock held as of 27 November, 2009. Stockholders will receive a cash payment instead of any fractional AOL shares. 
 
Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes says, “With the separation of AOL, we‘ve returned to our roots as one of the leading content companies in the world. We‘re now better positioned to focus even more closely on driving the best possible performance at our content businesses in the most efficient way. I‘m confident that Time Warner is on track to generate steady, attractive financial results and improve returns to our stockholders. At the same time, we believe that AOL will have greater operational and strategic flexibility as a standalone company.” 
 
No action or payment is required by Time Warner stockholders to receive the shares of AOL common stock. Stockholders who held Time Warner common stock on the record date will receive a book-entry account statement reflecting their ownership of AOL common stock or their brokerage account will be credited with the AOL shares. 

MUMBAI: TVGMarket, a market research firm specialising in the video game industry, and PlaySpan, which offers monetisation solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, have announced the 2009 digital goods report that reveals consumer behaviour patterns among existing customers of third-party online game marketplaces.

The survey consists of responses from a sampling of 2,425 customers across the PlaySpan Marketplace, Spare Change, and Ultimate Game Card.
 
The PlaySpan/VGMarket landmark study quantifies digital goods purchasing behaviour at the genre and item levels and also provides statistics on 1st party purchasing directly from the publisher, 3rd party purchasing through online marketplaces, and those who sell digital goods directly to other players.

‘Free to Play‘ Leads the Way : Analysing first party sales by genre, more than half of the respondents bought digital goods in a Free to Play game (58 per cent) over the last 12 months, which represents approximately the same number of total people who purchased digital goods in the MMO (34 per cent) and Social Network (23 per cent) genres combined. PC Online (12 per cent), Console Online (9 per cent), and Casual Games (9 per cent) account for the lowest level of participation.

More money is spent on digital goods in Free to Play games than in any other genre. Over the last 12 months, the median Free to Play digital goods expenditure was $75 per person, followed by $60 in MMOs and $50 in Social Network games. Other genres are also compared in the report including PC online, console online, and casual games.

Similar to first party purchasing behaviour, Free to Play and MMO genres are also the leaders in 3rd party marketplaces, with each genre generating $40 per person in annual revenue. This represents approximately 50 per cent more sales volume than Social Network games ($28) and 100 per cent more sales volume than PC Online games ($20). 
 
The largest number of sellers can be found in the Social Network genre, but the most money is being earned in the Free to Play genre. One out of two sellers made a sale in a Social Network game over the last 12 months and earned $50 (median), while one out of four sellers made a sale in a Free to Play game over the last 12 months and earned $98 (median).

Other interesting demographic information from the study revealed that 89 oer cent of the sellers were male with median age of 21 and having an annual household income of $30,000. All in all, 31 per cent or 742 of the total number of respondents said they have sold a digital good or item, with 39 per cent of the remaining 69 per cent confirming that they are either interested or very interested in doing so.

VGMarket president Michael Gluck says, “This report reveals not only the type of item and genre that are worth consideration, but the demographic make up of sellers and annual dollar amount they are able to generate as well. I think publishers will find out exactly what they need to know as to what makes most sense in terms of choosing the right business model and in-game economy”.

PlaySpan CMO Eric Hartness says, “Through this report, we wanted to share the most accurate and actionable data on the digital goods industry, to enable our clients, partners, and others to make good decisions on executing their business strategies. As digital goods leaders, we plan to continue conducting research and sharing the information to help accelerate industry knowledge and growth”.

MUMBAI: Advertising spend in the US on cable TV has gone up by 9.1 per cent in the first three quarters of 2009, according to a report from market research firm Nielsen.

Spanish-language cable also saw positive gains that surged by 36.7 per cent. Compared to the same time period in 2008, Spanish-language television‘s adspend (cable and network combined) remained flat, falling just 0.7 per cent.
 
TV ad spending overall fell 8.3 per cent year-on-year. Network TV was down 13.9 per cent, while spending on syndicated TV dropped 15.9 per cent. The total spend on ads placed on TV accounted for 56.8 per cent of all advertising expenditures so far this year, up two percentage points from the year-ago period. 
 
Despite a decline of 31 per cent, automotive continued to be the top ad-spending category followed by pharmaceutical. Quick service restaurant, wireless telephone services and department stores round out the top five product categories in ad spending.

MUMBAI: Internet and Mobile TV platform Babelgum will premiere the new animated web series, Over the Hedge, based on the syndicated comic strip by Michael Fry and T Lewis.

Over the Hedge, the inspiration behind the hit 2006 DreamWorks Animation film of the same name, relates the story of a raccoon, a turtle and a squirrel who struggle to come to terms with their woodlands being taken over by suburbia.

The new series will feature animated versions of the popular print comic featuring the character art from the strip.

RingTales, which produced Over the Hedge, already has a deal with Babelgum to exclusively premiere new instalments of Scott Adam‘s Dilbert animated cartoons and the New Yorker animated cartoons, both online and for mobile.

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has bagged the broadcast rights of this year‘s Video Game Awards.

To this effect, Sony‘s Animax channels across Asia, Central Europe, Latin America, Brazil, Africa, Spain and Portugal will broadcast the event.

The event is set to reach more than 42 million homes in 59 countries on the channel in January. The linear broadcast will be supported by a range of online content on animaxtv.com.

Said SPT EVP programming and production for international networks Marie Jacobson, “The Video Game Awards lands on Animax at a key juncture in our development as a youth-seeking global brand.

“This category represents a core focus for the network and our 14- to 24-year-old target audience. We look forward to expanding the worldwide footprint and influence of the VGAs.”

The two-hour event will be recorded in Los Angeles and aired in the US on Spike TV this weekend.
 

MUMBAI: Edelman India has appointed Karthik S as head of Digital Strategy (India).

In this newly-created position, Karthik will focus on developing and expanding Edelman’s digital offering in India.

His responsibilities will include spreading knowledge and use of digital tactics to employees across the organization, and advising on and managing digital components of existing client programmes.

He will help build Edelman’s digital business among existing and potential clients, promote new business development focused on digital activities and help execute partnerships in the digital space. In addition, he will work with Edelman’s regional and global resources to ensure a seamless Web 3.0 digital offering worldwide.

Karthik comes to Edelman from Text 100 in Bangalore where he was in charge of new business and social media communication initiatives for multiple clients.

Edelman India MD Robert Holdheim says, “Karthik will play a key role in our transition to a more digitally-oriented business model.

“Digital is embedded in our corporate philosophy. It is a big part of what we do around the world. We will continue to invest in this area and look forward to establishing the same digital leadership position that we enjoy in other parts of the world.”

A communications professional with over 11 years’ experience in strategizing and implementing communications plans across client and agency environments, Karthik is one of India’s leading bloggers with Milliblog (a 100-word music review blog) and ItwoFS (a 10+ year-old website that tracks music plagiarism in India).

MUMBAI: Discovery Networks International has announced the expansion of its international portfolio of networks with the launch of TLC HD in Latin America.

TLC HD, one of Discovery’s most successful brands in the US, is airing on Sky Brazil. It joins Discovery HD and Animal Planet HD as the company’s third international HD brand.

Discovery Networks International president and CEO Mark Hollinger says, “The launch of TLC HD in Brazil not only highlights our commitment to providing our viewers and affiliates with a variety of the best high-definition content, but it also signifies our expansion in the lifestyle space. For the first time, we are taking TLC, one of our leading brands in the US, to other markets around the world, marking an exciting addition to our channel portfolio”.

The programming on TLC HD will include inspiring content focussed on lifestyle, travel, the environment, parenting, home improvement and gripping human interest stories. The line-up includes top human interest series such as Jon and Kate Plus 8, Little People, Big World in addition to travel and food shows Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Bizarre Foods.

Discovery says that it was the first global broadcaster to launch a 24/7 high-definition network with Discovery HD Theater, which launched in the United States in 2002. In addition to HD Theater, the company offers HD simulcast services in the US for Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, Science Channel and Planet Green.

NEW DELHI: Two High Definition television (HDTV) studios are being set up in Delhi and Mumbai, with field production and post-production facilities in four metros.

Also coming up is an HDTV uplink at Delhi apart from HDTV terrestrial transmitters in the four metros.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said that HDTV broadcasting transmission provides pictures with a resolution 4 to 5 times higher than the existing transmission. It provides clear, noise free picture quality on wide screen TV receivers in aspect ratio of 16:9.

Meanwhile, an amount of Rs. 12.09 billion has been set aside for digitalization of Doordarshan out of an outlay of Rs. 13.69 billion approved for the new schemes in the 11th Plan. The modernization schemes include work on digitalization of existing studios, establishment of digital transmitters, replacement & augmentation of old studios, transmitter & satellite broadcast equipment and setting up of HDTV facilities.

Doordarshan at present has a total of 66 studio centres spread all over the country, of which 23 centres are either already digitalised or being digitalized. Thirty-nine studio centres which are partially digitalized or analog are planned to be fully digitalized in the 11th Plan. The remaining four studios which are analog are proposed to be digitalized in the 12th Plan.

The agenda includes taking up 40 locations where analog High Power Transmitters are operational for setting up of Digital terrestrial transmitters (DTT) in the country during the 11th Plan.

In addition, 14 High Power TV transmitters (HPTs) and 60 Lower Power TV transmitters (LPTs) are being replaced by state of the art analog transmitters, besides modernization and augmentation of equipment at existing studio centres.

Satellite Earth Stations are used in Doordarshan for networking of its programmes/channels throughout the country. It is proposed to upgrade and modernize existing Earth Stations and Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) equipment in the 11th Plan.