Category: Software

BANGALORE: Bangalore based technological and value added solutions (VAS) provider WiFi Networks, has launched an interactive voice portal (IVP) ‘Hello Star‘.

The portal will enable fans to answer queries about the Sandalwood industry stars and leave messages for them.

Wifi Networks caters to more than 70 channels and around 50 radio stations across India – this includes all the channels in South India except Jaya TV and Vijay TV.

On the national level, Zee makes use of its interactive voice services. Unlike most other VAS operators, Wifi Networks deploys its own platforms across telecom operators, TV and radio stations, besides content aggregation.

The first woman cine star for the IVP is Pooja Gandhi, the female lead of the Kannada blockbuster Munuguru Male.

Gandhi who is not a Kannadiga, until recently had her dialogues dubbed by others. The short codes for accessing Gandhi‘s IVP are 56006007 on Airtel and Reliance mobiles and 12556007 on BSNL landlines and mobiles.

BANGALORE: Technicolor, the Services Division of Thomson announced the launch of a new compression and authoring (C&A) operation in Bangalore, to be co-located within Thomson‘s new, 100,000 square-foot Paprikaas Animation and Game Design facility.

The new C&A facility will open in May and will be based upon Thomson‘s industry-leading research and development efforts for high-definition Blu-ray Disc and standard-definition DVDs.

The new C&A facility will be a central production hub connected to Technicolor‘s worldwide DVD operation through its high-speed production network.

Thomson‘s Technicolor Services Division provides C&A services on Blu-ray disc and standard definition DVDs monthly, specialising in theatrical high-concept, collector‘s editions double-disc sets, as well as television episodic series and music videos.

The Technicolor services division‘s Bangalore operation will focus on serving the domestic Indian market, and it also will serve as an off-shoring location to augment the division‘s capacities for worldwide DVD services.

Prior to joining Technicolor, Malik held the position of executive director of Advanced Technology for Sony Pictures and was involved in the developments of DVD and Blu-ray Disc technology.

In his new role, Malik will lead Technicolor‘s efforts to build the company‘s C&A services offering in India, a company statement says.

Thomson provides technology, services, and systems to the Media, Entertainment & Communications players – content creators, content distributors and broadcasters – and supports them in order to help them to improve their commercial offers and their performance in a rapidly changing technology environment.

The W890 Walkman® phone is a new offering with Mega Bass and Stereo Widening speakers packed with features such as 2GB music storage capacity allowing storage of up to 1800 songs and 3.2 mega pixel camera. It allows the user to choose music to match his/her mood with SensMe with stereo speakers in less than 10 mm thickness and MegaBass.

The W890 will be available in three colours – Espresso Black, Mocha Brown and Sparking Silver, at a price tag of Rs 15,990 at all RPG Cellucom and Sony Ericsson Experience stores.

The release also notes RPG Cellucom Executive Director Vikas Tawani comments, “We are delighted to extend our association with Sony Ericsson. Our endeavor is to provide the latest and best products to our consumers. The W890 is voted as one of hottest gadgets of 2008 and by exclusively launching the W890 in India we will be able to enhance the experience of our consumers who will also have a chance to buy this latest Sony Ericsson Walkman series phone.”

The ministry has asked the cable operators for their comments within the next week. It is learnt that the ministry met the representatives of MSO Alliance and Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI). I&B secretary Asha Swarup chaired the meeting.

“The ministry has asked for our comments,” said MSO Alliance president Ashok Mansukhani while rebutting allegations of restrictive regulations in a round table on Pay TV industry organised by Casbaa, saying that there is need to interface with the government before making sweeping statements.

Talking to indiantelevision.com on the sidelines of the event, Mansukhani said the ministry has asked for the observations of Cofi and MSO Alliance within the next seven days.

“The secretary was very positive and wants us to state our position on the issues,” Mansukhani said.

The ministry also has asked the two bodies to place their observations on raising the FDI cap for the cable television industry.

Sources said that the ministry is asking for things like whether the MSOs and cable operators are in a position to go for the extension and what is their take on the time frame they would need to implement the programme.

Informing the two bodies of some of the objections raised by both consumers and broadcasters, the ministry has asked for the response on how these issues would be dealt with by the carriers of content, it is learnt.

Trai has already said that not only should Cas be extended to the rest of the metros, but also should roll out voluntarily in the 55 other cities.

Pehla is the bouquet of Asian entertainment channels while Firstnet clubs togetherr international entertainment channels. ART is the collection of Arabic entertainment channels available in Middle East and North Africa.

Hallmark Channel is part of the NBC Universal Global Network family and delivers top dramas and a broad range of genres 24 hours a day.

ADD EVP and group strategy and planning Vinod D‘Mello said, “The inclusion of NBC Universal Global Network’s Hallmark Channel in the Pehla, ART and Firstnet packages is part of our continuous efforts to provide our viewers with some of the finest television programmes through the inclusion of high quality entertainment channels to the existing bouquets. Such additions enhance the value of these packages, while simultaneously satisfying the diverse entertainment needs of the audience.”

Law & Order: Celebrity Betrayal is the mobile game extension for the show which is in its 18th season. The game looks to capture the fast-paced drama and intrigue of the show.

The game will draw players into a complex murder mystery where they will interact with cast members, interrogate witnesses, solve the crime and proceed to trial. The show‘s executive producer Dick Wolf and his team were instrumental in developing the game with LimeLife to reflect the signature storytelling and energy of the show.

Wolf says, “One of the contributors to the show‘s longevity has been its commitment to evolve with the times and stay fresh which includes allowing our audience to experience Law & Order in different ways and on different screens. Law & Order: Celebrity Betrayal is the closest fans of the show can come to experiencing a day in the life of their favourite Law & Order characters.”

Universal Pictures digital platforms group SVP (mobile and broadband) Jeremy Laws says, “Law & Order: Celebrity Betrayal delivers the same suspense and procedural drama that have kept Law & Order an audience favourite for 18 seasons and one of the most successful brands in television history.

“We know that fans of the series will really enjoy the chance to immerse themselves in the crime-solving and trial experience that they have come to love on the show. Creating mobile games based on popular television series like Law & Order is one way NBC Universal is looking to extend our audiences‘ experience with the brand.”

LimeLife CEO Kristin McDonnell says, “NBC excels at creating seamless digital experiences for all of its brands. We are pleased to support NBC‘s cross-media integration strategy, delivering the Law & Order brand experience to show fans and crime buffs alike on their mobile phones.”

Players work to solve New York City‘s latest celebrity crime by investigating the crime scene, interrogating witnesses and bringing their key suspect to trial. The object of the game is to build as strong a case as possible and win a conviction with contextual advice and feedback from popular Law & Order cast members like Sam Waterston and Alana De La Garza. Players exhibit the evidence they have collected throughout every stage of the story during the game‘s complete trial experience, and try to win a conviction to become the rookie Law & Order star.

Law & Order: Celebrity Betrayal also features four mini-games that directly affect the strength of a player‘s case. At the game‘s precinct location, players can help process evidence and obtain warrants by playing the Warrant Race game, and search for rumours playing the Coffee Run game. While in court, players can try their luck at Case Overload or Takeout Dash.

NEW DELHI: NDTV Imagine may have brushed aside the existing players in the Hindi general entertainment space to grab the third spot with Ramayan as its content driver, but one reason for its success is that it sorted out the crucial distribution issue.

“We had hit almost 80 per cent of the base that Star Plus had right from the start, and have grown it since then. When you launch a Hindi GEC or any other channel in an already cluttered market, there is no way you can succeed without getting your distribution right, and our team managed to do just that. 50-60 per cent of the channnel‘s success could be attributed to solid distribution,” says NDTV head of network distribution and affiliate sales Rahul Sood.

Unlike the other NDTV news channels, NDTV Imagine does not form part of the Set India-Discovery bouquet.

“It was a mammoth task, with 4,000-plus decoders to be seeded across the length and breadth of the country, to make an impact in a marketplace where existing incumbents have their shares,” Sood recalls.

Elaborating further, Sood adds: “Four months prior to the launch, all the key markets were identified and the whole launch strategy put in place. The idea was to make sure that we get very high visibility in the early days of launch, so that people get a chance to get a feel for the channel.”

Sood, however, was not willing to disclose the carriage amount that NDTV Imagine had to pay to the cable operators.

“So far as carriage fees are concerned, we had a pre-worked limit and we have been pretty well within those limits. The spends were decided by us five months ago and we stuck to the decisions,” he says.

The next big focus is to launch the channel across the key international markets and there will be announcements on that front very soon,” Sood adds.

BANGALORE: Dialogic Corporation (Dialogic), a global provider of products and technologies for media and signal processing, has acquired the OpenMediaLabs business from its founders Joe Mele and Bob Logan. OpenMediaLabs develops the software that will power the next generation of IP video applications.

Dialogic also announced it will create a Dialogic® Media Labs research unit, focused on continued research into video algorithms. These algorithms will accelerate further innovation in both Dialogic’s video products and Dialogic’s partner and customer video applications.

“Dialogic’s vision is that all voice and text applications will eventually migrate to adding video capabilities,” said Dialogic CEO Nick Jensen.

“This acquisition enables us to accelerate our enhanced video capabilities going forward. We are pleased that both Joe Mele and Bob Logan will be joining Dialogic. We will also be recruiting talent for the Dialogic® Media Labs team and look forward to adding some of the world’s leading engineering experts in IP video technologies and image analysis to the Dialogic team,” added Nick.

“This is an exciting milestone for us at OpenMediaLabs. Being part of Dialogic, and thus being able to leverage larger company resources, enables us to act on our original mission to provide innovative video enabling technology to the industry,” remarked OpenMediaLabs founder and CEO Joe Mele.

The operator delivers information and entertainment programming via satellite to South India through a cable network.

Polimer TV chairman and MD PV Kalyanasundaram says, “The SeaChange platform allows us to meet our current requirements such as multiformat back-to-back playout of clips while giving us the flexibility to easily expand in the future. When the time comes, we will be able to add clustering as our operation grows and also transition to high definition as necessary.”

SeaChange’s BML/MCL architecture comprises distinct capabilities that have made it the foundation for over 100 broadcasters worldwide: Broadcast MediaLibrary servers, which cost-efficiently provide fault-resilient storage of any type of media file; and highly flexible SeaChange MediaClient software codecs, which support a wide range of formats to simplify a broadcast operation’s workflow.

Polimer’s MCL codecs are controlled via a HiTech active filer remote controller, which facilitates quick ingest and playback capabilities.