ITV

Category: Software

  • BBC Worldwide expands distribution in Australia with 3 channels











    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Channels announced a new distribution deal in Australia which will launch three BBC branded channels on Austar, Australia‘s regional subscription television platform in November.


    Starting 15 November, Austar subscribers will have access to CBeebies, BBC Knowledge and UKTV HD. These channels will join UKTV and BBC World News which are already available on Austar.

     

    The expanded distribution comes one year after the launch of CBeebies and BBC Knowledge on Foxtel, Australia‘s subscription TV provider. Both channels will now be available to an additional 728,000 customers.


    Additionally, UKTV HD will roll-out on Foxtel on 15 November replacing BBC HD.BBC Worldwide Channels MD Darren Childs said, “We‘re delighted to be expanding our distribution through this deal with Austar. Australia is a hugely important market for BBC Worldwide and this deal builds on our acquisition of UKTV last year, as well as the launch of BBC Knowledge and CBeebies on Foxtel.”





     

  • Airtel boosts broadband speed of Triple Play service; launches new plans











    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel has boosted broadband speeds for its ‘Triple Play‘ service on Airtel digital TV interactive, the IPTV service available in Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon. ‘Triple Play‘ allows customers to enjoy telephone, broadband and TV on a single line.


    Triple Play customers can enjoy a speed of 1 Mbps with ‘Magic@Home Freedom‘ 1 MB package. It is priced at Rs 1,899 per month. The ‘Magic@Home Turbo‘ package offers a speed of 512 Kbps which gets doubled to 1 Mbps at night will be available for Rs 1,499 per month.

     

    Additionally, Airtel digital TV interactive offers two Triple Play packages with broadband speeds of 256 Kbps and 384 Kbps in the ‘Magic@Home Value‘ and ‘Magic@Home 384‘ respectively.
    In both the packs, customers are entitled to services including Rs.150 worth of movies on demand, free for three months, free call value of Rs 100 and Airtelmail, PC Secure, speed on demand and unlimited gaming.Says Bharti Airtel chief marketing officer Telemedia Services Vikas Singh, “The two new packages at 1 mbps will open up new segments of the Triple Play market, attracting heavy broadband users who will not only get the benefit of higher bandwidth but also experience our IPTV service. The packages also mark our strategic intent of taking our Triple Play services to yet untapped sections of the market.”





     

  • DVRs see rapid growth in US









    MUMBAI: The usage of Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) is on the rise in the United States. 36 per cent of US homes have DVRs, four times more than the penetration just four years ago, reveals a study from Leichtman Research Group.


    But even with the usage of these time-shifting devices, more than 90 per cent of TV viewing in the country remains the traditional, live-linear type.

     

    The study also says that at least 65 per cent of those owning DVRs prefer to begin their TV-watching experience by watching live television and later switch to their recorded programming after determining there‘s nothing that interests them.


    The data, contained in the report “On-demand TV 2009: A Nationwide Study on VOD and DVRs,” is based on a survey of 1,300 US households.


    The report also says more than 20 per cent watched VoD last month, accounting for double the rate four years ago. Also, despite the proliferation of TV shows on websites like Hulu, at least 98 per of television video is viewed on TV screens.


    While VoD and DVRs are in vogue today, the report concludes that they are of less impact than was the introduction of direct broadcast satellite television 15 years ago.

  • TV has arrived at an inflection point: Intel











    MUMBAI: The television, both the device and the experience, has arrived at an inflection point. In keynote addresses at the Intel Developer Forum in the US, Intel executives Eric Kim and Justin Rattner discussed what happens and what’s needed when the full Internet converges with broadcast networks.


    The executives laid out the opportunities, both short- and long-term, to make the TV experience more visual, more personal and more interactive.

     

    Kim, who is senior VP, GM of Intel’s Digital Home Group, took the wraps off the Intel® Atom processor CE4100, the newest system-on-chip (SoC) in a family of consumer electronics (CE) media processors, and announced efforts with several key industry players including Adobe, CBS, Cisco and TransGaming which are helping to make the vision of interactive TV a reality in the short-term.


    He says, “At the center of the TV evolution is more processing power, which we deliver with the CE4100 media processor, built on the Intel Atom core and optimized for IPTV digital set-tops, connected media players and digital TVs.


    “With its performance and high-resolution graphics capabilities, CE manufacturers and software developers now have a platform for real innovation.”


    According to Intel CTO Rattner, innovation will accelerate in the next few years. “By the year 2015, you can expect 15 billion consumer devices capable of delivering TV content with billions of hours of video available. We’ll need much more sophisticated ways to organise content and provide it on demand. Intel Labs researchers are working on evolving technology so people can get the TV content they want, when they want it and wherever they want it.”


    3-D, Advanced Graphics and More : As consumer devices deliver more and more TV content, developers will need to blend together video, 3-D animation and rich graphics. And in turn, the importance of graphics and audio/video decoding in CE platforms becomes increasingly critical. Kim disclosed that Intel and Adobe Systems are working together to port Adobe Flash Player 10, a key tool for content developers, to the new family of SoC media processors.


    This will result in future CE devices that are optimised for playback of graphics and H.264 video to enable for the first time a wide array of Flash Player 10-based applications on the television.


    50 copper-based cables on the set of a 3-D shoot today could be replaced with a single optical cable with Light Peak technology. In addition to its extreme speed, Light Peak technology has the unique ability to simultaneously transport multiple existing I/O protocols.


    Personal TV, Intelligent Networks
    With the massive amount of TV content delivered digitally today and in the future, personalization is critical. TV Network CBS developed a TV Widget, or small Internet application, to help viewers find and connect to premium content in a more customized manner. TV Widgets are made possible by the performance of Intel CE media processors and Widget Channel, a software development framework.


    Delivering interactive product placements, games and on-demand video on non-traditional TVs, such as digital connected CE devices, will require innovation in how that content is actually distributed from TV service providers.


    Joining Kim on stage was Cisco’s vice president of video product strategy, Service Provider Video Technology Group Malachy Moynihan. He discussed how the company is helping service providers evolve their current networks to a medianet, which integrates the best elements of the existing broadcast infrastructure with carrier-grade IP networks to provide such new services as unified video experience.





     

  • Reliance Big TV adds 13 South Indian channels









    MUMBAI: Big TV, the direct-to-home (DTH) arm of Reliance Communications, has added 13 new South Indian language channels as it aggressively eyes the south market.


    While the DTH operator‘s bouquet includes eight new channels in Tamil, five have been appended in Telugu.

     

    The newly added channels in Tamil are Jaya Plus, Makkal TV, Mega TV, Zee Tamizh, Aditya TV, Seithigal, Sripoli and Vasant TV as part of its ‘South Bronze pack‘ on its platform.


    Meanwhile, the five channels that the company has affixed in Telugu are Sri Venkateshwara Bhakti, Bhakti TV, Sakshi TV, TV5 Telugu News and GCV.Said Reliance Big TV CEO Sanjay Behl, “Our latest offer gives more choice of channels to Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh customers, especially the locally popular channels. This is a part of Reliance Big TV‘s commitment to continuously enhance customer experience.”

  • Den Networks launches TV blogging application









    MUMBAI: NDS, which provides technology solutions for digital pay-TV, has announced that digital cable TV operator Den, has launched two services on the NDS MediaHighway platform.

     

    Den recently launched an interactive TV micro blogging application Blog.telly, after the launch of its 24-hour music service in January this year.


    Den CEO Anuj Gandhi says, “The launch of these additional services further improves the entertainment experience for our digital cable viewers in India.”


    NDS senior VP, GM Asia Pacific Sue Taylor adds, “We will continue to work with Den to provide solutions and localised support in India, enabling them to deliver interactive entertainment services to their subscribers.”

  • Twitter nails down $100 mn funding, gets $1 bn valuation

    MUMBAI: Twitter is nailing down a $100 million fresh funding that would set its valuation at $1 billion.









    New York-based venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners is leading a consortium of new and existing investors.

     

    Twitter had earlier in the year secured $35 million from Benchmark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners, valuing the micro-blogging site at $250 million.


    The other new investor is T Rowe Price. Old investors Spark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners also participated in this new round of funding.

    Twitter, which rejected a $500 million takeover proposal from Facebook last year, has preferred to rope in financial rather than strategic investors.

  • Net to account for 15 per cent of ad spend in 2010









    MUMBAI: Internet advertising is expected to account for about 15 per cent of global measured ad spending in 2010, up from an anticipated 13 per cent in 2009, according to a new GroupM study.


    The figure represents an estimated $64.7 billion globally, an 11 per cent increase over the previous year’s total.

     

    The hike is being sparked by ad spending increases in both search and mobile and a continuing ad spending decline in traditional media, according to the report titled Interaction. It also said internet ad spending has outperformed all other media throughout the recession of the past year and into the current recovery.


    In the US, digital advertising is expected to grab 17 per cent of total spending in 2010 compared to 15.4 per cent in 2009 and 13.9 per cent in 2008, according to the report. The 2010 figure represents an estimated $24.4 billion in digital advertising, a 7 per cent increase over the previous year.


    Most of the US growth is driven by search and video, which compensates for declines in Internet display advertising and sponsorships. Again, the report indicated that most of the US growth will be fueled by sharp declines in traditional print advertising, particularly newspapers.


    GroupM Interaction CEO Rob Norman says, “For several years the focus has been on the rapid rise of Google and the implications of its auction based pricing to advertisers and agencies. Today, search remains a key driver of digital marketing as advertisers compete to capture a disproportionate share of the intention that search behavior represents.


    “Now, however, the importance of influencing the organic listings has increased significantly, as has the focus on creating and capturing intent expressed in social media and micro-blogging actions. Search marketing is becoming intention marketing and is moving beyond results pages to activating and responding to the social graph.”


    However, while spending on search and mobile were on the rise, the growth in Internet display advertising has lost impetus over the past several years as supply has run ahead of demand. In 2010 display spending is expected to hold a 34 per cent share, down from 35 per cent in 2009, 37 per cent in 2008, 38 per cent in 2007 and 39 per cent in 2006. Search, meanwhile, has grown from a 38 per cent share in 2006 to an anticipated 43 per cent in 2010.


    In terms of spending, the report predicted an even greater disparity with global display ad spending predicted to grow 5 per cent to an estimated $20 billion in 2010 while search is expected to show a 12 per cent increase representing $25 billion in spending.


    Mobile advertising’s 2010 share of global ad spending is predicted to reach six per cent of the total, accounting for a 19 per cent increase to $3.3 billion from $2.8 billion in 2009. In 2008, GroupM estimates mobile ad spending was at $2.4 billion.


    In addition to spending forecasts, the comprehensive report also details ad investment in paid search, Internet display, mobile and e-mail, and indicates media cost inflation/deflation.


    The survey covered 36 countries and shows digital advertising’s share of total ad investment rising from 3.1 per cent in 2001 to 14.6 per cent in 2010. It points out that Internet advertising has been the principal source of media investment growth in western nations since 2001 as spending in traditional media has leveled off and lately retreated.


    Key Findings: As the inexorable switch to digital continues, major newspapers and magazines will continue to suffer audience and, as a result, advertising declines. Consumers have little appetite for paying for news and entertainment content that is available free elsewhere.


    Video has taken over from social media as the new digital darling. As owners of professional quality video content allow more video to be broadcast online, consumers are responding enthusiastically.


    Display is increasingly dominated by ad networks and others whose mission is to drive measurable return on investment. Social media continues its extraordinary growth in consumer adoption and interaction, but still little revenue in proportion to the total time spent or impressions available.


    In the US, the number of people accessing news on their mobile devices daily has more than doubled to 22 million and those accessing a social networking site have increased fourfold to nine million compared to just a year ago. (Source: ComScore, March 2009). This is a generally desirable target audience for marketers. If one uses consumer behaviour as a gauge of a medium’s potential, there appears to be good news in mobile’s future.

  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to premiere on Airtel Digital TV









    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel has announced the premiere of the Brad Pitt starrer The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on its direct-to-home (DTH) service, Airetel Digital TV on its pay-per-view (PPV) scheme.


    The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards.

     

    Directed by David Fincher, the film will be available from 25 September at Rs 50.
    Additionally, Airtel is also providing a special bundled offer where The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Pelican Brief will be available for a full day for Rs 75.


    Airtel Digital TV customers can order the movie either for a full day or for any of the shows in a day on the website or by SMSing the movie code to 54325. Said Bharti Airtel chief marketing officer- DTH Sugato Banerjee, “With The Curious Case of Benjamin Button we are offering our viewers the latest blockbusters and entertainment during the festive season.”

  • Star launches 4 Hindi channels on Comcast’s Chicago platform











    MUMBAI: Star, a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation, today launched four of its Hindi channels on Comcast‘s Chicago area cable platform.


    These channels include Star Plus, Star One, Star News and Star Gold. They are available to order as part of a four-channel Star pack for $24.99 per month. Also, customers may order Star Plus as a stand-alone for $11.99 per month.

     

    The new Star channels will be available to residential homes in the city of Chicago and Chicago‘s Northwest suburbs including Algonquin, Glenview, Lake Zurich and Schaumburg. The availability of these channels will soon be expanded to other cities in the Chicago metro area.


    Said Star SVP distribution sales and marketing – North American and European offices David Wisnia, “We are pleased to broaden our offering of South Asian content for Comcast‘s Chicago area subscribers.”

    “Star India Networks is part of Comcast‘s ongoing commitment to our customers to bring value by connecting them to the people, places and programming that are important in their lives. By expanding our diverse programming, the South Asian community will have many favourite programmes available 24-hours-a-day, only on Comcast,” averred Comcast director national ethnic marketing Natalie Rouse.