Category: Software

MUMBAI: Dish TV has narrowed its net loss as subscriber growth stays bullish, pushing up operational income for the three months ending September.

The direct-to-home (DTH) company has posted a net loss of Rs 561.34 million, significantly lower than Rs 1.54 billion in the earlier-year period.

Amid an addition of 0.41 million subscribers during the quarter, Dish TV posted a 48.59 per cent jump in total income to Rs 2.57 billion.

Dish TV expects the subscriber ramp up to continue in the third quarter. In the month of October, the DTH operator has mopped up 300000 subscribers.

Says Dish TV chairman Subhash Chandra, “We have achieved robust growth in tough market conditions. Our focus on operational excellence and internal measures such as cost optimisation has supported the results. We also continued with our investment programmes to support our growth.”

MUMBAI: Toei Animation Europe has firmed up a deal with France-based Orange to bring the animated properties Captain Harlock and Ken the Great Bear Fist to VoD and mobile VOD platforms throughout French-speaking territories.

The VoD offer is available on PC and IPTV through the 2424video service. Mobisodes are of 3 to 5 minute formats taken directly from the TV series and offered free of charge to subscribers on the Orange World portal.

Captain Harlock is set in 2977, when mankind has become complacent and stagnant. All work is done by machines, while humans spend all their time on entertainment. But when a mysterious invader from the stars catches Earth unawares, only the legendary space pirate Captain Harlock and the crew of the Arcadia have the will to stand against them.

In Ken the Great Bear Fist, Ken who has the great bear fist was defeated by Sin, his rival who deprived his sweetheart. His endless journey of fierce battles to rescue her begins.

MUMBAI: With its revenues increasing by 10 per cent to ?1.38 billion and the customer base growing by 94,000 to reach 9.536 million homes, BSkyB‘s profit for the first quarter has risen by 75 per cent from ?73 million to ?128 million.

“Our business has made a good start to our 2010 financial year with another quarter of strong results,” said chief executive Jeremy Darroch. “In what continues to be a tough economic environment, we have increased the number of customers joining Sky.”

BSKYB absorbed the short-term costs of customer demand and delivered double-digit revenue growth, 9 per cent growth in operating profit, and 15 per cent growth in EPS.

“As the year continues, we‘ll maintain a clear focus on our customers and on delivering on our priorities, all with the aim of building a larger, more profitable, and better business,” said Darroch.

Darroch also pointed to the increasing popularity of Sky‘s additional products: multi-room subscriptions added 62,000 to reach 1.9 million; Sky+ HD PVRs gained 287,000 (last year it was 93,000) to reach 1.6 million, compensating for the slower growth of Sky+ SD PVRs, with additions of 411,000 (compared to last year‘s 421,000), reaching 5.9 million.

MUMBAI: iProspect, the search engine marketing firm acquired by UK-based Aegis Group in 2004, has expanded its footprints to Brazil.

The launch of iProspect Brazil in Sao Paulo stems from the rebranding of MídiaClick, a search and performance marketing firm founded in the same city in 2006.

The agency provides a suite of performance marketing offerings, including search engine marketing, search engine optimization, and web analytics. iProspect started its operations in Netherlands

MUMBAI: Neo Cricket has concluded distribution deals with international cable and DTH operators for carriage of the cricket channel in the Middle East, Fiji and Philippines.

Neo Cricket, jointly with its platform partner Arab Digital Distribution, has signed up with Qatar Cable Vision (Q-Tel) for the Middle East region. Through the government-owned cable network Q-Tel, the channel will have additional subscriber base in Qatar.

Neo has entered into an alliance with Pacific Broadcasting Services to foray into the Hindi and English speaking households and commercial outlets in Fiji. For Philippines, it has tied up with Destiny Cable Inc.

MUMBAI: Universal Networks International has launched its Sci fi, Universal Channel and Hallmark Channel brands on three pay-TV operators in Taiwan.

TFN Media (Taiwan Fixed Network) had launched the three channels back in June, followed by CNS (China Network Systems) in August and TBC (Taiwan Broadband Communications) last week.

Next up will be Vesta on 1 November. The announcement comes just a few weeks after Sci Fi HD launched in Japan. Upcoming launches include 13th Street on Foxtel and Austar in Australia.

Said Universal Networks International and Digital Initiatives president Roma Khanna, “This is an important step in our growth plan for Asia, a priority region where we are committed to building a significant presence with our world-class brands,”.While Sci fi is now available in 11 countries across Asia Pacific, Universal Channel is available in nine and Hallmark Channel reaches 20 countries respectively.

MUMBAI: Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc (SCEA) in has partnered with online movie rental service provider, Netflix Inc, to avail movies and TV episodes from Netflix available to TVs via the PlayStation3.

The service priced at $8.99 a month is expected to begin across US in November.

The tie-up enables consumers to play high-definition games, watch blu-ray movies, listen to music, view photos, browse the internet and download content from the PlayStation Network.

Initially, watching movies instantly streamed from Netflix via the PS3 system will be enabled by a free, instant streaming Blu-ray disc that is being made available to all Netflix members.

“The PlayStation 3 system has always been about more than just gaming and it will soon be the only platform in the industry to offer consumers such a variety of convenient options for enjoying movies and TV shows,” said SCEA president and CEO Jack Tretton.

MUMBAI: Zee Turner, a joint venture between Essel group and Turner International, has roped in Chetan Maniar as sales head for its digital business.

In his new capacity, Maniar replaces Sanjay Bhasin to lead the CAS, DTH and IPTV verticals of the joint venture company.

Says Zee Turner CEO Dinesh Jain, “Chetan has an expertise in this domain. With his appointment, Chetan would help Zee Turner achieve the ambitious plans it has set for its digital business segment.”

Prior to this appointment, Maniar was heading the content and affiliate division at Videocon Industries Ltd.

MUMBAI: Time Warner Cable has launched its first Hispanic free on-demand channel, Lo Mejor On Demand (LMOD) that will feature a slew of shows from Univision.

The on-demand shows include Cristina, Escandalo TV, Sabado Digante, Republica Deportiva and Nuestra Belleza Latina.

Said Time Warner Cable chief marketing officer Sam Howe, “The partnership between Univision and Time Warner Cable allows us to bring our viewers more of the entertainment that they love, when they want it.” LMOD is available to customers of Time Warner Digital Cable in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Antonio and San Diego with additional launches planned next year.

MUMBAI: WPP’s GroupM Entertainment and online major Yahoo! have announced a partnership to help marketers creatively incorporate their brands into original online programming.

The programmes will appear exclusively throughout Yahoo!’s network of media properties including news, sports, finance and entertainment.

GroupM Entertainment Worldwide CEO Peter Tortorici says, “Marketers need big, ground-breaking ideas that engage and delight consumers, and this partnership with Yahoo! will enable them to create unique high value relationships.”

GroupM Entertainment and Yahoo! will work together to identify advertisers, develop creative concepts that map media content with an advertiser’s messaging, and produce the content for each programme. Yahoo! will also promote these branded programmes to targeted audiences in channels across its network.

Yahoo! senior VP, North American revenue and market development Joanne Bradford says, “Yahoo! has a keen understanding of what makes our audience click, and this partnership will help advertisers develop deeper connections with our users.

“Furthermore, Yahoo! can continue to build on its successful portfolio of the Internet’s most-watched original programming by tapping into GroupM’s incredible creative development talent.”GroupM’s director of digital assets Margaret Clerkin will assist Tortorici in overseeing the company’s involvement, and Erika Nardini, Yahoo!’s vice president of packaging, will be the representative from Yahoo!.