Category: Software

MUMBAI: AEG, the California based sports and entertainment presenter, has announced the acquisition of Incited Media, a provider of webcast management, production and media services.

The company will merge broadcast services of Incited Media with AEG Productions, an international multi-platform and multimedia production company to create AEG Digital Media.

The new entity will offer a full spectrum of digital media services for distribution across television, mobile and broadband platforms.

“AEG Digital Media becomes a first-of-its-kind production powerhouse with the end-to-end broadcast and webcast capabilities to reach a mass global audience through digital production and distribution,” said AEG CEO and president Timothy J. Leiweke.AEG Productions president Michael Goldfine will look after the digital unit. The company has also named Ben Rolling as VP of development, Joe Einstein has been appointed as VP of production and John Petrocelli as VP of sales and business development.

“As the demand for digital media production and distribution grows, we are now uniquely positioned to deliver a range of services that is unmatched in the industry.

MUMBAI: Despite any proactive support or even a road map towards digitalisation, large Indian cable TV networks have taken their initiative and commenced their migration to digital CATV.

And therefore, the focus this year at Scat, the 18th edition of the television technology tradeshow, will rest on the transition to digital.

Scat will kick off on 7 October and will run till 9 October at the World Trade Centre in Mumbai.

Satellite and Cable TV magazine editor executive publisher Dinyar Contractor says that 100 companies have taken up 85 stalls. Last year, there were 10,000 visitors and Contractor expects a similar number this year.

Says Contractor, “Digitisation not only provides a very effective tool to counter competitive threats from DTH, but provides a significantly higher channel capacity at a lower cost than DTH.

“Digital hardware prices have fallen rapidly in the past one year. Therefore, even cable operators in class B and C cities are taking the initiative to move towards a digital environment. To enable even smaller networks to migrate to digital, exhibitors at Scat 2009 will be offering attractive solutions and prices. They will offer packages tailored to the fragmented Indian market.”

Digital hardware prices, Contractor notes, have fallen rapidly in the past one year. Therefore, even cable operators in class B and C cities are taking the initiative to move towards a digital environment. “To enable even smaller networks to migrate to digital, exhibitors at Scat 2009 will be offering attractive solutions and prices. They will offer packages tailored to the fragmented Indian market,” he says.

Contractor adds that digital cable TV Headends will be demonstrated. “There is also a move taking place towards high definition television. Therefore, digital satellite receivers that facilitate this technology will be on display. Also technologies that facilitate Hits will be showcased.”

MUMBAI: News Corporation Chief Digital Officer Jon Miller has announced a series of executive appointments within the company’s Digital Media Group, the division responsible for driving digital strategy across the organisation, and directing the company’s standalone digital media businesses.

News Corp Digital Media’s (NDM) new executive team includes General Counsel and executive VP of business affairs Dan Fawcett; executive VP of operations Jack Kennedy; executive VP of strategy and corporate development Jorge Espinel and senior VP of Safety, Security and Privacy Hemanshu (Hemu) Nigam.

MySpace, IGN Entertainment, Fox Audience Network, Photobucket, Beliefnet and Fox Mobile Group will now be directed by NDM the management team orf which will support these businesses in the areas of long-term strategy, corporate development, business and legal affairs, while also serving as a central bridge to other entities within News Corporation.

Said Miller, “In finalising the structure of News Corp. Digital Media with the appointment of an incredibly talented executive team, our goal was to empower the leadership at our digital properties to operate in a more streamlined environment, giving them the freedom and support to more directly and efficiently manage their businesses.

“News Corp. Digital Media will play a lead role in shaping digital strategy across News Corporation, ensuring a consistent, long-term vision of both product innovation and revenue generation across the entire company,” miller added.

As general counsel and executive VP business affairs, Fawcett will oversee business and legal affairs for NDM. Fawcett will add these duties to his ongoing responsibilities as President of Digital Media for Fox, where he reports to Chase Carey and provides senior level strategic counsel for Fox Entertainment Group’s vast array of digital initiatives.

Fawcett has served in a number of executive roles at News Corp over the past decade, and has been President of Digital Media since 2007, where, among other things, he played an instrumental role in the formation and launch of Hulu.

MUMBAI: In a further boost to the mobile gaming industry in India, mobile entertainment company Nazara Technologies has signed an agreement with New York-based Cellufun (m.cellufun.com).

This is a mobile community where people socialize, play games, and buy virtual goods. According to the agreement, Nazara will provide Cellufun‘s content on different platforms across all operators‘ decks.

The deal will enable mobile users in India to access Cellufun, known as ‘the world‘s mobile playground,‘ on any mobile network and on any phone to create personal avatars, play games, chat and for the first time, buy virtual goods on mobile phones.

Says Nazara Technologies CEO Nitish Mittersain, “It is our constant endeavour to provide new products and services that will increase the data revenue for our carrier clients. Cellufun‘s addictive multi-player social games are carefully designed so that players don‘t need to be in the same country or even speak the same language to play with one together.

“At the same time, Cellufun localises its content on a country-by-country basis. As is evident from the popularity of social networking sites, we expect Cellufun, which concentrates on social gaming and interaction, to be an instant hit in India”.

Cellufun CEO Neil Edwards avers, “Nazara is one of the leading mobile content and payment companies in India. We are excited to see Nazara work to make Cellufun a household name among the 400 million mobile consumers in India and are looking forward to the first of many mobile operator partnerships. It‘s a great thing to have Nazara so focussed on our success.”

MUMBAI: United States (US) leads the way when it comes to spending in animation, reveals ‘The Global Animation Industry‘, a study carried out by Screen Digest.

In the US, Walt Disney Co and Nickelodeon Animation Studios were the largest producers of animation content with 50 and 47 hours of content produced respectively in 2008.

Besides, other major companies such as 20th Century Fox Television produced 26 hours of content, Cartoon Network Studios produced content of 23 hours while Warner Bros TV Animation managed to produce 22 hours of animation content in the same period.

Although, Canada has emerged ahead of US and France in producing animation content with 382 hours produced in 2008 amounting to $265 million, US still leads with just 330 hours of animation content amounting to $376 million, making it the highest investment made by major animation players in the US, reveals the report.

In Europe, France was the highest producer with 259 hours in 2008, showing a sharp fall from a high of 395 hours in 2006.

“There is perhaps no genre of film or television more global than animation. A popular film or TV series in one country can quickly translate into a global phenomenon and success in these primary markets can feed through into DVD and licensing and merchandising revenues,” says Screen Digest senior analyst Tim Westcott.

MUMBAI: Conax Access Systems, a security provider for digital TV and content distribution worldwide, has established sales and support operations in Mumbai.

“With a new regional base in Mumbai, Conax is better positioned to capture an even larger portion of the extensive Indian pay-TV market.

“The new office will also provide streamlined technical support for our customers in the region including Digicable, a multi system operator (MSO) in India,” said Conax CEO Berit Svendsen.

The company‘s approach in the expansive DTH and pay-TV market is mainly based on the Conax corporate strategy for freedom of choice and selection of security evaluated consumer devices. The new sales and support office will further enhance the strategy of the company and support network in the Southern states of the country.

MUMBAI: Citi Venture Capital International-owned You Telecom India has resized its investment plan amid the economic downturn.

The company has decided to pump in Rs 2.5 billion over two years, scaling down its earlier plan of infusing Rs 4 billion to boost its cable TV and broadband business.

Narrowing down the spread, the expansion plan will focus on depth and consolidation of the business in the cities where it runs operations.

“We had earlier planned to expand into 15 new cities. But in a capital scarce scenario, we will go to six more cities in the first phase. After that, we will rework on our fund requirement,” says You Telecom CEO EVS Chakravarthy.

MUMBAI: With five private direct-to-home (DTH) operators competing for the subscriber, the total DTH subscriber base has crossed the 15 million mark in India, posing a serious threat to digital cable TV.

As per Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai)‘s ‘Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report‘ for the quarter ended 30 June 2009, the total number of registered subscribers being served by these private DTH operators had soared to 15.17 million by June end this year.

DTH is, thus, growing at 15.89 per cent quarter-on-quarter. According to Trai, India had 13.09 million registered DTH subscribers on 31 March this year.

Cable TV operators, on the other hand, have marginally increased the seeding of set-top boxes (STBs) in the Cas areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai during this period. According to Trai, the total number of STBs installed increased to 816,192 in the quarter ended June 2009, up 5.99 per cent as compared to 770,053 STBs in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, Trai has also released the data on the number of pay-TV channels in India till 30 June. As per the sector watchdog‘s report based on the data received from 24 broadcasters/distributors across the country, there are 136 pay channels in India.

There are a maximum of 166 free-to-air (FTA) and 124 pay channels carried in any particular cable network, as reported by the multi-system operators (MSOs) to the sector regulator.

Interestingly, the maximum number of channels being carried by any of the reported MSO in digital mode is 262. In analogue form, however, the maximum number of channels being carried by any of the reported MSOs is 100 channels.

MUMBAI: CNN has announced that its CNN application would be available in its application stores.

The CNN iPhone application is purpose-built and designed to provide a visually-driven news experience for iPhone and iPod touch users who demand accessibility and convenience.

Avers CNN.com GM, senior VP KC Estenson, “CNN‘s new application for iPhone and iPod touch simplifies and amplifies news consumption, empowering users to get the news and information they need and want, anytime, anywhere. Simply put, the new CNN application puts the power of the world‘s news leader right in the palm your hand.”

The new CNN application showcases news of the day through text, video and photos. It also features live breaking news video, push notification, localisation and personalisation tools, user-generated content capture and upload functionality through iReport and more.