ITV

Category: Software

  • Dish TV, Indiatimes.com to offer Vas services on mobile

    MUMBAI: Dish TV, the direct-to-home (DTH) arm of Essel Group, has announced a tie up with Indiatimes.com, Times Group‘s internet venture, to provide mobile value added services (Vas) on TV.









    ‘Mobile Active‘ enables consumers to preview the mobile services on TV and download content on to their mobile handsets. The content may include ringtones, wallpapers, text alerts and contests.

     

    Says Dish TV COO Salil Kapoor, “Mobile Active is our latest initiative to drive convergence in the entertainment and communication space. Our main focus is on empowering our young customers and giving them an easy user interface to download mobile Vas products.”


    “Our mobile Vas division has witnessed rapid expansion since past one year with the launch of services like 58888 IVR portal, Active Deals, etc. With this tie up we at Indiatimes 58888, will be able to enhance our customer touch points and maximize revenue opportunities,” says Times Internet Limited CEO Rishi Khiani.


    Earlier, Dish TV had launched interactive Life services, wherein Dish TV customers can search for jobs, seek their life partner and plan their dream vacation by a click on their TV remote.

  • Investigative journalism no longer a viable proposition









    AMSTERDAM: Day three of IBC. The highlight was the screening of the 3D movie Monsters and Aliens in the evening. It was quite a sight to see techies queuing up to pick up their 3D glasses, don them and squat in the auditorium to watch the animated film. 2,000 of them took time out to watch the animated feature. And they went away more than sated. The idea behind the screening: reemphasise the fact that 3D is upon us and close to 10 per cent of all Hollywood films are being crafted in 3D.

    The floor was also used pretty welll by companies which displayed their abilities to put together 3D broadcasts live. At the EVS booth 3Reality displayed a pretty competent image of their 3D initiative by making visitors don 3D glasses to watch live 3D broadcasts and see themselves on the screens. And the experience was worth it, with there being hardly any jitter. The experience at the Fraunhoffer Digital booth was not comparably as good with there being some jitter while showing people in motion.

     

    The evening saw Hindustan Times editorial advisor Vir Sanghvi take part in a panel discussion which debated whether the broadcast journalist has a future. And the consensus was that change is upon us. Citizen journalism and the hard times print groups are facing have meant that investigative journalism is no longer a viable proposition with costs being cut. Journalists are also being forced to hog air time on TV – that is fill in with “bollocks” (as one panelist put it) and jabber away. With that increasingly happening and the internet offering a very good option to listners – but a non-paying one – journalists and journalism are being challenged.

    “The current generation is simply not interested in either TV or print news,” said Sanghvi. “For them it is the internet and it is instantaneous.”


    The consenus was that very definition of news these days is undergoing a change. “It has always been more about being local and community, but with the internet, this is further being emphasised,” said one of the panelistis. “The internet is making that possible and how. This will definitely impact broadcast news.”

    Meanwhile, Chyron used IBC to announce that it has sold 11 HyperX graphics systems to support the launch of Sky News HD by next year. The HyperX systems is to be used in conjunction with Chyron‘s Camio Cluster server and Order Management System (OMS), and will be operational throughout the Sky News Channel architecture and full-frame graphics.

    Then Dalet Digital Media Systems announced that Canal Plus has selected Dalet Enterprise Edition to modernise the production operation of their highly popular, France-based i>TELE 24/7 news channel. Dalet will design a fully integrated workflow and will also spearhead the comprehensive system integration which will include technology from DataDirect Networks, HP and Omneon. The Dalet Enterprise Edition system will provide i>TELE with a tapeless workflow that enables them to re-engineer their 24/7 news operation, rationalising media production by decreasing overall costs while improving programme quality.Omneon, on its part, announced that it was launching its new Media Application Server, a software platform that aims to provide centralised management of content by decoupling client computers and data storage operations from media management and application processing. Embedded within the Omneon Media Application Server is the Media Services Framework (MSF), a Web-services application programme interface (API) that third-party applications can use for managing content and processing media on Omneon systems. It is also displaying application based on the Media Application Server including: Omneon ProXplore, a new clip and metadata management utility, and new versions of the Omneon ProBrowse proxy application and the Omneon ProXchange transcode application.

    Additionally, Grass Valley launched its new T2 Intelligent Digital Disk Recorder (iDDR), the next generation of its popular iDDR family of playout and record devices for file-based SD/HD production and A/V presentation environments. The new T2 iDDR brings improved efficiencies for live and staged production and expanded I/O support for all of the most common production formats. This allows the new T2 to operate seamlessly within any type of tapeless or baseband environment: as a standalone device or as part of a large multi-camera production.

  • DivX signs licensing agreement with Motorola









    MUMBAI: Digital media company DivX has signed a licensing agreement with Motorola for certified Motorola IPTV set-top boxes.


    The set top-boxes will be initially available in Europe and will support the playback of standard definition video on the DivX format.

     

    These DivX certified Motorola set-top boxes will help consumers to playback digital videos and Hollywood movies in the DivX format stored on their personal USB drives.


    “Working with Motorola is a tremendous win for DivX that raises our profile and penetration in Europe and markets worldwide. We look forward to working with Motorola and further expanding our presence in the set-top box market segment,” says said DivX CEO Kevin Hell.

  • ET Now hops on to Dish TV

    MUMBAI: ET Now, the English business news channel from the Times Global Broadcasting stable, has signed a distribution deal with Dish TV to be available on the direct-to-home (DTH) platform.











    As part of the agreement, ET Now is now available on channel No 597 of the Essel Group’s DTH service.

     

    Indiantelevision.com had reported earlier that the channel is already available on Airtel Digital TV (on channel No 309), and Big TV (channel No 998).


    “This follows the steady growth in viewership seen by the channel in its key markets where it is already available through Cas (Conditional-access system) and cable,” the company said in a release.

  • Tata Sky offers heavy discount on PVR service









    MUMBAI: Tata Sky, the direct-to-home (DTH) joint venture between Tata Group and Star, is celebrating the first year anniversary of Tata Sky+, the personal video recorder (PVR) technology enabled service. The company has announced special promotion offering for all existing and new subscribers on Tata Sky+.


    Tata Sky+ was launched in October last year and has features such as record, pause and rewind live TV.

     

    As part of this offering, the subscribers can buy Tata Sky+ for a special price of Rs 4,999, a discount of Rs 4,000. Initially, the set-top boxes for PVR, which use MPEG 4 compression technology, were priced at Rs 8,999. The offer is available till Diwali (17 October).


    Says Tata Sky MD and CEO Vikram Kaushik, “To kick-start our anniversary celebration, we are pleased to present the new Tata Sky+ offer during this festive season. We hope with this offer, we can further enhance customer experience by providing quality entertainment and greater value for money.”

  • BBC.com audience up 21 per cent in Asia Pacific: study

    MUMBAI: BBC.com‘s traffic in Asia Pacific has grown by 21 per cent in its monthly reach in the second quarter of the year compared to the same period last year, says the latest results delivered by ComScore.









    According to the report, the number of visitors per month has now risen to 8.4 million in the region which is more than twice the size of its nearest competitor. BBC.com remains the largest international broadcast news website in Asia Pacific.

     

    The figures also show loyalty to BBC.com around the globe with 72 per cent of audiences reportedly staying with BBC.com rather than visiting a competitor site (competitive set includes CNBC, Financial Times, CNN.com, MSNBC.com, and the Economist).


    The latest ComScore records show considerable peaks in traffic in Asia Pacific particularly during key world events during this time. These include the India elections, the swine flu epidemic and Iranian elections.


    BBC.com executive VP, MD Luke Bradley-Jones says, “It‘s hugely encouraging to see our online presence in Asia Pacific expanding and the loyalty towards our website around the globe.”


    BBC.com is part of the BBC‘s international advertising proposition with a multi-screen portfolio that includes BBC World News, BBC Global Channels, BBC Mobile and lonelyplanet.com.

  • Sony adds edge-lit LED models to Bravia HDTV line

    MUMBAI: Sony in the US has introduced a new line of ultra-thin Bravia LCD HDTVs featuring an advanced edge-lit LED backlight and contrast ratio of over 1,000,000:1.









    The XBR10-series models also deliver full 1080p wireless transmission of high definition signals from a separate media box to a receiver embedded in the TV, allowing source components to be placed out of sight.

     

    Says Sony Electronics VP – television business Jeff Goldstein, “The wireless feature clears the clutter of components and messy tangles of unsightly wires, allowing you to hide components away across the room.”


    The XBR10 models also feature an Ethernet connection allowing them to directly access Sony Bravia Internet Video content using an existing broadband network. The platform offers free movies, TV shows, sports and music along with an partners such as Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, Slacker Internet Radio, and, later this fall, Netflix.







    Bravia Internet Widgets, powered by the Yahoo! Widget Engine, will also expand and personalise the TV experience by adding on-screen applications that provide informations such as weather reports, stock information, financial news, Twitter, and additional content.

    The full HD 1920×1080 progressive (1080p) models also feature Sony’s Motionflow 240Hz technology, which the company says delivers images with natural motion. The Motionflow algorithm goes beyond traditional 120Hz technology by quadrupling the frame rate of conventional LCD TVs and interpolating three new frames.

     

  • BBC to drive digital uptake in the UK

    MUMBAI: It wouldn‘t be good enough for the BBC just to broadcast the 2012 Olympic Games to the UK. The measure of success is not simply whether it beats the 42 million who watched Beijing. It‘s about a range of measures which are demanding.









    The UK pubcaster also needs to show that it has driven digital take-up even faster within the UK, that it has helped prevent any digital divide between those who can afford new technology and those who can‘t, between those who leap at it and those who need assistance. It means supporting media literacy campaigns, enabling employment through apprenticeships and training, making sure there are the greatest range of social benefits too.

     

    The remarks were made by London 2012 director Roger Mosey at the IBC Conference in Amsterdam. Doing better for the Olympics in London in 2012 is not something that the UK pubcaster can do on its own. This will involve partnerships most obviously with the London Organising Committee, many UK public institutions and with stakeholders like the IOC, the EBU and the host broadcasters at OBS. It will also involve working with this industry and many of the people here today to harness the best ideas.


    He also took aim at James Murdoch who recently made remarks about the BBC. “We want to cheer James up and suggest his pessimism is unfounded – that a BBC still respected across the world as a model of public service can and does work with the private sector, and a healthy BBC with popular support is a guarantor of innovation and supporter of enterprise,” Mosey said.

  • Sun Direct steadies losses amid subscriber growth

    MUMBAI: Amid a rapidly-growing subscriber base, the Kalanithi Maran-owned Sun Direct has taken a loss of around Rs 2.63 billion for the six-month period ending 31 July 2009.


    For the fastest growing DTH operator in terms of subscribers, the loss in the last three months of this period amounts to Rs 1.32 billion.


    Sun Direct‘s ARPU (average revenue per user) stays almost flat at Rs 83 during the three-month period ending 31 July, the lowest in the industry.


    Malaysia-based Astro has suffered a loss of Rs 526.73 million from its 20 per cent holding in the DTH venture over the stated six-month period. The share of “associate losses” for Astro stands at Rs 263.37 million for the last quarter of this period.


    Astro has so far invested Rs 5.90 billion ($122 million) in Sun Direct.


    In an earlier interview, Sun Direct COO Tony D‘Silva had told Indiantelevision.com that the loss for the fiscal ended March 2009 would be in the region of Rs 4.50 billion. “High volumes will help us reach break even as our costs are not as high as the others,” he had said.


    Sun Direct recently announced it had crossed four million subscribers in less than two years of operation.

  • ESPN eyes upside in pay revenue on back of 4 big events

    MUMBAI: On the back of four big sports events over the next 12 months, ESPN Star Sports (ESS) is targeting an aggressive growth in pay-TV revenues.


    ESS will showcase the ICC Champions Trophy



    2009, Airtel Champions League T20 2009, Fifa World Cup 2010 and ICC World T20 2010.


    Says ESPN Software India associate VP, affiliate sales Makarand Palekar, “Riding on this strong content which will enable us to post strong revenue figures for this fiscal, we are looking at a sizeable growth in our paid subscriber base across India.”


    The sports broadcaster claims that it has signed renewals with DEN India on a national basis, InCable in South India, SitiCable in Kolkata & Mumbai, ICC in Pune, Manthan, Calcom, KCBP and Cablecom in Kolkata, Seven Star in Mumbai, UCN in Nagpur and a host of other affiliates across the country.


    The ICC Champions Trophy, starting from 22 September, will see the top eight cricket nations fight it out for the coveted title. The tournament will have 15 matches.


    The Champions League T20 will see 12 domestic T20 champions from seven test-playing countries play 23 matches for the title ‘Champion of Champions‘.


    The ICC World T20, to be played from April to May 2010 in the West Indies, will have as many as 27 T20 matches.


    The Fifa World Cup, to be played in the month of June and July next year, will have 32 countries fighting it out for the trophy from 64 matches.


    Palekar says 60 per cent of the broadcaster‘s revenue comes from distribution. He adds that last year the broadcaster had decided not to rock the boat. The understanding reached with the distribution community was that this year there would be an increase in declarations from the cable TV operators.