Category: Software

The two parties said they intended to look at ways of encouraging more rapid consumer take-up of digital radio and developing the available technology to secure a successful future for DAB.

Signalling their joint commitment to continue to develop DAB as a key platform for the future of digital radio, BBC Audio and Music director Jenny Abramsky and 4 Digital Group chairman Nathalie Schwarz issued a joint statement:

“It is clear to us that Dab has an exciting future in a fast converging UK media industry. The BBC and 4 Digital Group are committed to digital radio long term and both believe that working together, and with the rest of the radio industry, is vital if we are to secure the UK‘s position in the forefront of digital radio development.

“We want to work together to make the very best of UK radio available to everyone, while continuing to compete to provide the very best audio content that will be the primary means of ensuring the success of digital radio in the years to come.”

In the first instance, the BBC and 4 Digital Group are exploring the technological innovations made possible by DAB, from interactive exchange between listener and broadcaster and EPG-based services, including programme storage, to text and image-based services that offer programme information, pictures, sports results and local news and weather.

4 Digital Group is the consortium that won the licence from Ofcom to run the second national commercial DAB multiplex in June last year.

Led by Channel 4 Radio, it brings together a formidable multi-media alliance comprising some of the biggest names in radio, television, publishing, retail, technical expertise
and data innovation.

The 4 Digital Group Shareholders are Channel 4 Radio, H Bauer (formerly EMAP Digital Radio Limited), UTV Radio (GB) Limited, BSkyB, The Carphone Warehouse Group plc and UBC Media Group plc.

Both demonstrations will be seen in the NEC Electronics‘ exhibition booth at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.

Wind River was chosen to port, integrate, test and optimise both software platforms to the Medity M2 because of its mobile Linux expertise and understanding of the chip. Moreover, the demonstration marks the first time the Android platform has been ported to the chip.

“Medity M2 is the second evolution of the Medity family of chips with features such as low-power consumption and support of MPEG-4/H.264 video and 2D and 3D graphics, and both demonstrations further highlight the power and performance the chip offers customers,” said NEC Electronics‘ SoC Systems Division GM Katsuhiko Itagaki.

As the mobile handset market continues to boom and the demand for multimedia-rich features on a fast and sleek handset continue to grow, developing applications that set one phone apart from the next becomes more time-consuming and significantly increases software development costs.

In partnership with leading silicon and board vendors, Wind River offers reference designs to make hardware choice and board bring-up faster and easier.

platformOViA is a Linux-based, vertically integrated software stack designed to accelerate 3G-handset time to market. Also targeted for the digital video and automotive infotainment markets, the platform offers a common software API and pre-integrated partner components.

Created by NEC Electronics, in collaboration with software vendors and system integrators, the platform features an open architecture and support of leading-edge technologies such as multi-processing.

Further, companies using platformOViA can utilise system LSIs developed in line with characteristics of each application.

On the other hand, an open software stack for mobile devices, the Android platform includes an operating system, middleware and key core applications.

Developers have full access to the same framework APIs used by the core applications. The application architecture is designed to simplify the reuse of components.

“Partnering with NEC Electronics has been an extremely rewarding experience and we are pleased to provide the Android platform and our Linux expertise to power both software platform demonstrations on the Medity M2,” said Wind River mobile solutions GM Jason Whitmire.

“This is a very exciting time for mobile Linux and we are thrilled that technology leaders like NEC Electronics and industry organisations such as the Open Handset Alliance continue to look to Wind River as their Linux commercialisation partner of choice.”

At the convention, Hungama MD and CEO Neeraj Roy will share the platform with some of the most influential people from the telecom and mobile VAS industry across the globe.

Mobile World Congress 2008 will have a focus on media and entertainment, and Hungama Mobile has an array of exclusive initiatives lined up for the convention, said a press release.

Keeping the agenda of mobile entertainment, Hungama Mobile will participate in the ‘Mobile Film Festival‘ (MOFILM) initiative undertaken by the GSM association.

The company will be representing Indian cinema and Bollywood, and MOFILM will showcase Ocher Studio and Adlabs‘ Sultan the Warrior, a live-action animation on Tamil actor Rajnikanth.

Hungama Mobile will also feature the Bollywood multi-starrer Race and along with this, the company will showcase T-Series album Outrageous by Sherlyn Chopra.

With over 500 companies and organisations such as Sony Pictures, Warner Music, BBC, NBC, Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, Cannes Film Festival, and Robert Redford‘s Sundance Film Festival, Warner Bros, News Corp are expected to attend the convention.

Hungama mobile claims to be the only Indian player to share the stage and discuss the future trends in mobile entertainment.

Apart from the MOFILM initiative, Roy will also deliver a keynote address on digital content at the congress. He will be sharing the platform with the likes of Cisco‘s John Chamber, Nokia‘s Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou, Qualcomm‘s Paul Jacobs, Softbank‘s Masayoshi Son, Korea‘s SK Telecom‘s Shin-Bae Kim and AT&T‘s Ralph de la Vega.

The key objectives of the discussion will be to explore digital content opportunities for mobiles across the globe and to explore mobile operators‘ digital content strategies including business models and partnership strategies.

DishTV added 297,000 new subscribers during Q3, up from 278,000 additions in Q2, an increase of 7 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Its gross subscriber base stood at 2.7 million as on 31 December 2007.

During the period, Dish TV’s operating revenue was up 48 per cent at Rs 1.12 billion as compared to Rs 755.01 million in the previous quarter. Subscription revenues were up 26 per cent.

The company’s operating loss stood at Rs 641.61 million, from Rs 472.32 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Expenditure in the third quarter touched Rs 1.76 billion, 43 per cent higher than in the corresponding quarter of the previous quarter. Rs 1.05 billion was spent on costs of goods and services, which is 46 per cent of the total expenditure; 14 per cent expenditure went on advertisement (Rs 306.20 million), while 11 per cent on distribution (Rs 253.18 million).

Dish TV chairman Subhash Chandra said, “This quarter has seen sustained emphasis on subscriber acquisition and improvement in the quality of subscriber base, through aggressive marketing initiatives. This is reflecting in a healthy 26 per cent increase in subscription revenue. Going forward, the company will continue with a strategy that focuses both on subscriber growth and revenue enhancement.

“In the last few months, focus on process improvement and efficiencies has also resulted in improvement in operating margins and cost ratios across key expense heads. We are also glad to have entered into a distribution alliance with Future Group to provide consumers with unparalleled quality of digital television services directly to their homes. We are confident that DishTV would deliver long term value to all its stakeholders.”

The company claims to have expanded its front end service network to 90 towns. It is available in 4,400 towns through 38,000 dealers and over 575 distributors. It has 180 channels in its bouquet.

Dish TV CEO Arun Kumar Kapoor said, “Today, we have subscribers in over 4,400 towns, which are covered through 575 Distributors and over 38,000 retail outlets. Moreover, our alliance with a leading consumer durable brand (Future Group) has strengthened our presence at many exclusive brand stores, thus enabling DishTV to reach the premium consumers.

“December also saw the entry of another DTH player, Sun Direct, in the four southern states. However, we continue to show robust growth in this territory, due to a combination of our superior regional languages offering and some aggressive marketing initiatives.”

The period saw Dish TV diluting 4.9 per cent stake to Indivision Capital, the private equity arm of Kishore Biyani‘s Future Group.

Commenting on the tie-up with Future Group, Kapoor said: “This exclusive distribution tie-up would give a further boost to the brand image and availability of our products across all Future Group outlets in India. We will continue to develop this relationship further for building long term brand salience.

“Further, our brand salience has grown tremendously and placed us at a vantage position in the consumers’ mind. Apart from mass media, our retail visibility has also grown significantly, thereby helping in higher recall and conversions. This growth trend has been reflected across all market segments and we see great potential in the smaller cities whose contribution to our sales has been growing steadily.”

Dish TV uses the platform of NSS-6 satellite, which is suitable for use in ITU K and N rain zones.

In addition, FTV India has launched an India-centric fashion portal www.ftv.co.in, which is to be a one-stop destination for fashion enthusiasts, designers and traders, with community features, blogs, exclusive videos, designer sections, fashion news and interactive features like games, etc.

“Our association with FTV will definitely give the mobile VAS industry a new dimension, and I am confident it will be accepted by the audience with open arms,” said Hungama Mobile MD and CEO Neeraj Roy.

Commenting on the association, FTV India business head Tarun Srivastava said, “This service will enable consumers to be in loop of what world fashion has to offer. As we move forward, we are looking forward to offering innovative and popular digital entertainment to our Indian users.”

The mobile content will be made available across various categories as images, videos, ring tones, games and many more features. This tie-up will enable the Indian consumers and fashion lovers to download fun fashion videos, models and designer profiles, photo shoots and fashion tips by FTV.

FTV Mobile will be marketed to both the consumers as well as marketers, along with the FTV India website. The website claims to provide the fashion enthusiasts their complete dose of information on everything related to fashion, entertainment and lifestyle in India and the rest of the world. The website will cover fashion celebrities, blogs, community features – fashion mags, exotic holiday destinations, FTV merchandise, apparels, videos, fashion calendars, lifestyle tips, contests and diamond club memberships.

At an event in Mumabi, Buzz: The Maha Quiz was launched amidst much panache and fanfare. The event saw talent from cricket and bollywood, Sreesanth, Neil Mukesh and Sonia Mehra inaugurated Buzz.

Bursting with over 5,000 questions Buzz: the Maha Quiz offers players questions on trivia ranging from celebrities to nature to sports to history, and claims to have something for everyone. The uniqueness of Buzz is the relevance of questions to Indian consumers developed in collaboration with Derek O‘Brien and associates. Buzz: the Maha Quiz has been developed by the BAFTA winner Relentless Software and promoted by SCEE in India.

Sony Computer Entertainment country manager Atindriya Bose said, “Buzz enjoys a tremendous fan following across the globe because of three key elements – accessibility, character and sociability.

Three new rounds have been added alongside some old favourites, with the final round revamped to make the game more competitive to the very end making for an even more exciting conclusion. With all this, plus more characters and refined multiplayer features, The Maha Quiz boasts to delight quiz fans whilst also serving as the perfect introduction to the Buzz series on PlayStation.

Conceptualised and produced by PixelKraft, a Media Solutions company based in Chennai, Ram & Ria series features the life of a typical south Indian man and his wife, and showcases their dilemmas as they go about living their life in a metro. The comic short series is full of real-life situations and highlights the humour in the everyday situations in short films of three minutes.

Commenting on this initiative, Rediff.com VP marketing Manish Agarwal said, “With broadband becoming a reality in India, more and more people are logging online to watch entertaining videos. Rediff iShare as platform offers a tremendous opportunity for professional content owners to catch these audiences which are shifting from TV to the Internet for entertainment.”

“We are delighted with the response we have got so far to the first sitcom series on Rediff iShare, and we expect more such Indian content producer to go live on Rediff iShare,” added Agarwal.

The series, which has gone live recently, has already got a great response from audiences online – wherein over 50,000 users have already watched it and have left interesting remarks on the site, stated an official release.

The creative director of the series Siddharth Kumar said, “The inspiration to launch the Ram & Ria series came from the dearth of contemporary Indian content, and we strongly believe that there is great market for real content being produced for alternate media‘s like the Internet and mobile.”

To be a part of it, fans can visit www.forceindiaf1.com. Club Force allows for fan interaction. The company says that already over 1,900 photos and 300 blog posts have been posted.

Over 200 people join Club Force everyday, claims the company. Besides offering information on the Force India team and its various initiatives, the site also offers a quick refernce to Formula One with information on the history of the sport, rules and other aspects of the game.

The site offers a window to Formula One-related news through its syndicated news and blogs section. The site also has a mashup of Google Maps that provide fans a view of all the circuits. As the season unravels, the site will have up-to-date rankings and countdowns to upcoming races.

There are plans going forward to offer merchandising to members. Events and promotional activities are also on the anvil.

Research from the Netherlands-based website monitoring company has shown that Web 2.0 sites often are slow to open or fail to load properly.

WatchMouse monitored the time it took the social networking sites, listed on Wikipedia to load. The results showed that the worst for availability is the immensely popular Facebook.

Other well-known culprits include Twitter, last.fm, Windows Live Spaces, Friendster and del.icio.us. Of the 104 sites monitored, 51 show a Site Performance Index (SPI) of 1000 or more, making them very slow in load time.

This, the company says, is a remarkable outcome, seeing as most sites heavily use Ajax, which should lead to quicker load times since the dynamics of the site do not load immediately. Using Ajax should help websites increase interactivity, speed, functionality and usability by exchanging small amounts of data with the server so the entire webpage does not need loading fully every time someone performs an action on a page.

Watchmouse CTO Mark Pors says, “It is interesting to see that popular networking sites turn out to have very bad performance. It is surprising that they still have such a big fan base when they serve their users so badly. Using Ajax technology, they should be able to work more effectively. For now, the sites will need to do a lot of work to remain popular and improve their performance.”

Hungama Mobile, which has more than 70 per cent market-share in the mobile content business in South Asia, has also tied up with Media Magic to distribute Hungama‘s rich content through their retail platform. Since India has very low broadband penetration, the company will primarily focus on the distribution model through retail outlets. The company has set a target of having over 10,000 retail outlets, which will be serviced by distributors across the country, says an official release.

“For the first time, consumers will get DVD quality experience for movies of all languages with all legal content and software, which will ensure many benefits like extended battery life, no hanging, no viruses, etc,” said Media Magic CEO Vijay Singh.

“We have acquired the license to distribute over 500 movies including regional titles in all languages in addition to Bollywood movies, as well as over 5,000 songs and huge numbers of wallpapers and games, which would be constantly expanded,” he added.