Category: Software

Google Gadget Ads is an interactive ad format that is currently in an expanded beta with a select group of AdWords advertisers worldwide, while AdSense for Mobile unlocks the potential of the mobile advertising market by enhancing the mobile experience with relevant ads that will help people find what they‘re looking for quickly when they are searching or browsing content on their mobile phones.

“We are delighted with the response of Indian advertisers and publishers, who are using Google AdWords and AdSense as central tools for their business to generate revenue,” said Google India managing director Shailesh Rao. “The launch of Gadget Ads and AdSense for Mobile will provide them with even more exciting formats and targeted technology to enhance their monetization potential.”

AdSense for Mobile will be available in the following 13 countries in the coming weeks: US, England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Russia, Netherlands, Australia, India, China, and Japan, states an official release.

Gadget ads – non-traditional ad units with interactive, rich media capabilities – not only enable advertisers to target audiences in a flexible and timely manner via regular updates within the ad unit, but also allow users to engage with ad content in a way static ads haven‘t facilitated in the past.

Gadget ads can incorporate real-time data feeds, images and video in a single creative unit and can be developed using Flash, HTML or a combination of both. Designed to act more like content than a typical ad, they run on the Google content network, competing alongside text, image and video ads for placement. They support both cost-per-click and cost-per-impression pricing models, and offer a variety of contextual, site, geographic and demographic targeting options to ensure the ads reach relevant users with precision and scale.

Gadget ads are also built on an open platform, allowing anybody from individual advertisers to agencies to set up and run ads on the Google content network, the world‘s largest global online ad network. Plus, gadget ads will not command any serving or hosting costs.

Feedback from preliminary beta participants, including brand advertisers such as Pepsi-Cola North America‘s Sierra Mist, Intel, Honda, Six Flags and Paramount Vantage, has been positive. Advertisers are enthusiastic about this fresh marketing solution that empowers them to interact with targeted users through dynamic and engaging content.

Intel global marketing manager Stephanie Dillard said, “Google Gadget Ads provided a unique and efficient means to further promote our Centrino Duo campaign. Our goal was to enhance visibility and engagement with the consumer while taking in key learnings of Google‘s evolutionary advertising offerings. We look forward to utilizing the interactive gadget ad format with our new ‘Chips‘ campaign that shifts focus back on the processor.”

Says Google vice president product management Susan Wojcicki, “Google Gadget Ads are built on an open platform that enables distribution across the Google content network and can be shared on iGoogle and other personalized web pages at no additional cost to advertisers.”

Meanwhile, AdSense for Mobile, is a program that contextually targets ads to mobile website content. AdSense for Mobile also allows AdSense publishing partners the ability to earn revenue from their mobile websites through the targeted placement of mobile text ads. With this program, advertisers can connect with the growing number of mobile publishers, ultimately providing users with an enhanced mobile experience that helps them find what they are looking for more quickly and efficiently on the go.

AdSense for Mobile is intended for AdSense partners who have created websites specifically for mobile browsers, and who want to monetize their mobile content via contextual advertising. Like Google‘s other AdSense products, mobile text ads run on an auction model. The system automatically reviews the content of publishers‘ mobile websites and delivers text ads that are relevant to the websites‘ audience and content. Publishers earn money whenever mobile users click on the ads.

With the network deal in place, customers in Sri Lanka can look forward to a host of innovative products and services from Airtel‘s portfolio.

According to an official statement, the three-year deal is valued at approximately $ 150 million and includes telecom applications and software.

The latest custom-built technology from Huawei is expected to reduce Bharti Airtel‘s total cost of ownership (TCO). Huawei‘s Distributed Node B will enable Bharti to deploy the network faster and more cost-effectively.

“Bharti Airtel is committed to creating a state-of-the-art mobile network and offering world-class and affordable 2G and 3G services to customers in Sri Lanka. Huawei has established credentials as a global company producing high quality products and solutions. We are delighted to be partnering Huawei in this endeavour of ours, ” said Bharti Airtel executive director international operations and managed services Sanjay Nandrajog.

Bharti Airtel was recently awarded the license to provide 2G and 3G mobile services in Sri Lanka. Under the agreement, Huawei will deploy and manage Airtel‘s core network, Node-Bs and BTSs and comprehensive end-to-end 2G/3G network solutions.

Huawei India CEO Max Yang said, “We are extremely proud and happy to partner with Bharti Airtel who pioneered the telecom revolution in India and continues to contribute immensely to the remarkable growth of the telecom sector. We look forward to continuing this strategic partnership with Bharti Airtel by providing innovative and customer-oriented solutions and services including wireless solutions.”

Enpocket provides technology and services that allow brands to plan, create, execute, measure and optimize mobile advertising campaigns around the world. By acquiring Enpocket, Nokia will accelerate the scaling of its mobile advertising business, leveraging Enpocket‘s platform and partnerships with advertisers, publishers and operators.

Additionally, through this transaction Nokia is gaining a team with expertise in global mobile advertising across disciplines, stated an official release.

“We believe that mobile advertising will be an important element in monetizing those services for our customers and partners. Enpocket‘s mature leading edge platform and people expertise are a strong fit with Nokia existing capabilities in the mobile advertising market,” said Nokia chief technology officer Tero Ojanpera.

“This acquisition is a game changing move to bring the reach and depth of Nokia to organize the market across the world, and make it easier for an ecosystem to develop,” added Ojanpera.

The innovative technology that drives the Enpocket platform is a mobile advertising campaign management and delivery system backed by consumer insight, targeting, and measurement. The platform can deliver mobile advertising across multiple formats including SMS, MMS, mobile Internet advertising, and video.

“Effective interactive advertising on the mobile device can create tremendous value for the mobile industry while bringing new Internet services to people around the world,” said Enpocket president and CEO Mike Baker.

“Enpocket and Nokia are combining to provide the leadership needed to define, build and standardize globally the business of mobile advertising so that brands can easily and efficiently engage consumers on their personal devices,” added Baker.

One key issue is of prioritisation, as Trai asks whether Digital Terrestrial Transmission should be given priority for the spectrum assignment over mobile TV, particularly in view of the fact that the Mobile TV all over the world is essentially at a trial stage.

“Should the mobile TV operator be free to decide the appropriate route for transmission?” the Trai paper asks of stakeholders.

Additionally, how are spectrum requirements for analogue / Digital/ Mobile TV terrestrial broadcasting to be accommodated in the frequency bands of operation.

Should mobile TV be earmarked some limited assignment in these broadcasting bands, leaving the rest for analogue and digital terrestrial transmission?

Trai has asked the stakeholders that in the case of terrestrial transmission route, how many channels of 8 MHz should be blocked for mobile TV services for initial and future demand of the services as there are nearly 270 TV channels permitted under downlinking guidelines by the information and broadcasting ministry.

The other critical issue is that of eligibility conditions for grant of license for mobile television services.

Should net worth requirements be laid down for participation in licensing process for mobile television services, and if so, what should be the net worth requirements for participation in licensing process.

Another contentious issue in the cable industry is the limit for FDI and portfolio investment for mobile television service providers, and this would be debated thoroughly by the non-IPTV players in the cable industry, who have been hankering for a lift of the cap on FDI in their sector.

There are some other related issues, like what should be the tenure of license for the mobile television service providers, and what should be the license fee to be imposed on the mobile television service.

Trai also wants to know whether the licenses for mobile television service should be given on national or regional and city basis.

In its backgrounder to the Consultation Paper, Trai has observed: “The key to making mobile TV a reality lies in combining traditional broadcast standards with features specific to handheld devices: mobility, smaller screens and antennae, indoor coverage, and reliance on battery power.

“Two forces are currently driving mobile TV development and its commercialisation: Network providers and Mobile TV service providers see it as an additional possible revenue over and above voice income flow, and cell phone manufacturers see an opportunity to sell new, more expensive TV-capable handsets.”

Trai said that the paper is being issued in accordance with the Information & Broadcasting ministry seeking its recommendations and the specific issue that the ministry has suggested that needs attention are:

• International practice,
  
• Eligibility criteria, net-worth requirement,
  
  
• Foreign direct and indirect investment levels,
  
  
• Technology to be adopted, Revenue sharing, entry fees and bank guarantee, and
  
  
• Spectrum to be used

Trai has requested stakeholders to send in their responses by 30 September.

However, many of the speakers were confident that the Internet would gradually become the second largest advertising medium and would revolutionalise TV with the entry of Internet Protocol TV and other new media. Many of the speakers spoke of the gradual amalgamation of the media.

They included Sam Balsara (Chairman & Managing Director, Madison), Arvind Rao (Chief Executive Officer & Co Founder, On Mobile), Dinesh Wadhawan (Managing Director & CEO, Times Internet Ltd), Gurtej Sandhu (Senior Vice President Digital, Star TV), Raj Nayak (Chief Executive Officer, NDTV Media), Gullu Sen (Vice Chairman, Dentsu India), Chaya Brian Carvalho (Managing Director & CEO, BC Web Wise),
Sidharth Rao (CEO & Co-founder, Webchutney), Rajagopal Menon (COO, Contests2win), Bhavna Giani (Associate Creative Director, Mediaturf Worldwide), Jaspreet Bindra (Country Manager, Windows Live + MSN), Lloyd Mathias (Marketing Director, Motorola), Ashok Lalla (Director of Internet Marketing, Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces), Rohit Sharma (Chief Operating Officer, Zapak), D Shivakumar (Managing Director, Nokia India), Sameer Suneja (Head Marketing, Preffiti Van Melle India), and Rahul Agarwal (Director Marketing, Lenovo).

Carvalho and Agarwal did not agree that the Digital Medium was too functional to allow room for creativity, and said the situation was in fact quite the contrary. Carvalho said the Internet was a vehicle for self-expression and was in fact a most creative medium giving infinite space for creating new ideas. Agarwal regretted that traditional agencies had not been able to grasp the power of this new medium and regretted that very little money was being set aside for exploiting this medium or on research.

Giani said it was necessary to decide the direction those using the medium wanted to take since it was most engaging and interactive, while Menon felt that creativity implied the uses to which this medium could be put.

The speakers were unanimous that the Digital Medium was making a real impact on marketing, promotion and customer acquisition efforts of most major brands in India. Some felt that the current definitions of creativity and the current training and experience of leaders in this area are not aligned with the notions of creativity for the digital medium.

Bharti Airtel has contracted UTStarcom to supply its RollingStream end-to-end IPTV solution that will enable it to offer live broadcast television, time-shifted TV and video-on-demand (VoD) bundled with the operator‘s existing broadband and voice services, which can all be consolidated into a single bill sent to customers at the end of each month.

“We are happy to team with UTStarcom to offer IPTV and other new services to our customers in India,” said Airtel Broadband and Telephone Service president Atul Bindal.

“UTStarcom‘s RollingStream solution has proven technology to support our requirements in rolling out IPTV service in India. We are running our IPTV trials in Gurgaon and have received a favorable response from our customers participating in these trials,” added Bindal.

Earlier this year, UTStarcom announced a three-year contract through its collaboration with Aksh Optifibre Ltd. to deploy its RollingStream solution with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) in India. In addition to its deployments in India, UTStarcom also has commercial IPTV deployments with China Telecom and China Netcom in China and Softbank in Japan. Demand for IPTV is expected to grow significantly in the Asia Pacific region.

According to Frost and Sullivan, IPTV subscribers in this region are expected to surpass 27 million by 2013 with China and India being the high-growth markets.

“Today‘s announcement represents our second commercial deployment of RollingStream in India this year,” said UTStarcom South Asia MD Vijay Yadav. “We believe our RollingStream solution can revolutionize the way television is viewed in India by making services more interactive and personalized to the end user.”

In a “position paper” on IPTV, the regulator has also clarified that no further licence or registration is required for cable operators or telecom service providers to offer IPTV.

Any legally licensed telecom service provider or cable TV operator registered under Cable Television Networks Act, 1995 can provide IPTV service without requiring any further license or registration, Trai has said.

Multi-system operators (MSOs) have objected to Trai‘s contention that IPTV is not a cable operation and that it is a closed user group, contrary to cable TV.

The MSOs hold that under Cas, in the encrypted feed, cable too is a closed user group operation, as it is based on a decision by a consumer deciding what to view and the MSO / LCO giving him access to that alone.

These initial responses come from MSOs on the heels of the fact that just recently, secretary, Information & Broadcasting department had told a delegation of MSO Alliance and Cable Operators Federation of India that it could not deal with content on IPTV as the platform is under the telecom ministry.

I&B secretary Asha Sawrup had said that the matter is under consideration of a three-ministry inter-ministerial committee under the aegis of the Prime Minister‘s Office, and the committee is yet to give its final say on the matter when Trai has suddenly suggested that IPTV content be kept under I&B Guidelines.

MSOs are also saying that the Trai paper, which they accuse has been issued too hurriedly, says in one breath that cable operators can operate on the IPTV platform and yet, IPTV is not a cable operation.

The Trai paper has said in opening remarks that IPTV is viewed by cable players as an encroachment in their area, and a threat to their business model (Point 1.2.3).

Among Regulatory Issues, Trai says that IPTV is provision of television signal using Internet Protocol for transmission of signals to the subscribers.

Interestingly, this issue, especially content control, is pending with the Centre and an inter-ministerial committee has been formed to go into precisely this issue. The Trai position on IPTV could, thus, come in for a heated debate.

This is because the I&B ministry has informed the MSO Alliance and Cable Operators Federation of India recently that no one knows who would control IPTV content, since as per Allocation of Business, it falls under telecom ministry. Hence, an inter-ministerial committee has been set up to change the Business Allocation.

Since telecom service providers having UASL license are permitted to provide triple play services, Trai says the question was being raised time and again whether these operators needed any other regulatory clearances to provide IPTV to their subscribers.

The issue of IPTV came up for discussion during consultation process on consultation paper on “Convergence and Competition in Broadcasting in Telecommunication” issued on 2 January, 2006.

It was argued by one school of thought that IPTV is a closed transmission path designed to provide cable TV services, and hence IPTV should be governed by the provisions of ‘Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act 1995‘.

It was further pointed out that there will be certain grey areas if IPTV services are governed by the existing Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995.

Trai says that in order to understand its applicability, it is important to examine various definitions given in this Act.

“Cable Television Network” means any system consisting of a set of closed transmission paths and associated signal generation, control and distribution equipment, designed to provide cable service for reception by multiple subscribers.

This is where the MSOs have accused Trai of ‘muddling up issues‘ and say they are unhappy as there seems to be no real effort to come to a clear picture.

The most crucial point of friction between Trai and the MSOs lies in Point No. 3.10:

“As has been discussed in Chapter 2, IPTV network consists of closed transmission paths and associated signals.

“However, network setup by UASL is designed to provide telecom services and not a cable service. IPTV service can be delivered using Telecom Network local loop, optical fiber or wireless media.

“Hence delivery of IPTV signal under UASL is not restricted to telecom local loop but also includes wireless media, Optical fibre, etc. When the issue is to determine whether IPTV is a “Cable Service” or not, it will defy logic if it is said that IPTV delivered through wireline using telecom local loop would be a cable service but the same IPTV delivered through wireless is not a cable service.

“Indeed there may be situation where the IPTV service provider delivers IPTV service to subscribers‘ home using a combination of wire and wireless media.

Hence delivery of such signals cannot be termed uniformly as delivery through cable. Therefore, IPTV service provided by telecom operators is not the same as “cable service”.

The MSOs have also found fallacy in Point No. 3.11, which says that “Television network is defined as one “designed to provide cable services for reception by multiple subscribers”. In IPTV, subscribers communicate individually to the central equipment as well as DSLAM.

“The individual local loop carries individual TV signal for individual subscriber. That is to say, the telecom local loop carries, at a time, only one TV channel which has been “pulled” out by individual subscriber from IP TV server or DSLAM on “One-toone” basis, as against the conventional cable TV network which carries all the channels at any time because these channels have been “Pushed” by the local cable operator into the cable TV network on “One-to-many” basis by multiple subscribers.

“Therefore the telecom network is designed to deliver TV signal to individual subscriber and not for multiple subscribers.

Hence, again IPTV is not a Cable Television Network service.”

Trai says also that a further analysis of the cable networks and IPTV networks will indicate that both the structures are grossly different. In case of cable network, all the channels are pushed to the subscriber premises and are available at set top box (STB) and can be viewed based on the authorization given to the subscriber as per his choice available on the magnetic viewing card.

The all important point by Trai has been made at 3.18, which says: “It is important to mention here that IPTV provider can get channels only from broadcasters.

Broadcasters are already bound by the uplinking / downlinking guidelines. Therefore as long as such IPTV operators show only those channels which already have up-linking/ down-linking permission there will be no issue relating to the content, specially related with IPTV provider.

In order to ensure that unregulated content are not shown by IPTV operators, following provision will have to be specified in appropriate telecom licenses.

The issues are: –

• Technological requirement of IPTV to deliver content through a STB leads to non-compliance with the requirement of Section 4A of Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 about Free-To-Air channels not needing an addressable system in CAS notified areas.
  
• Use of different protocols by different companies and lack of standardization for IPTV services may violate the requirement of Section 9 of Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 about use of equipment conforming to Indian Standards.
  
• Applicability of FDI norms, downlinking guidelines and programme codes on a unified access licensees licensed under Telegraph Act providing IPTV services with same content as Cable TV needs clarification.
  
• The first two issues are pertinent only when it is assumed that IPTV service constitutes cable services and is covered under the ambit of Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act 1995.

The ‘awareness‘ letters further encouraged the bars to subscribe to pay-TV services through Hong Kong’s three fully-licensed pay-TV operators: Hong Kong Cable, now TV and TVB Pay Vision. Print advertisements were also placed in newspapers and magazines to further increase public awareness.

The unauthorized commercial display in Hong Kong bars, clubs and other public venues of pay-TV programming intended for other markets, as well as trading in pirated television decoders, are acts of copyright infringement.

World Cup soccer organiser Fifa and pay-TV operators filed lawsuits against a number of Hong Kong bars for illegal broadcasting of the World Cup football tournament in June of last year, resulting in six-figure settlement payments for copyright infringement along with public apologies.

Casbaa, which represents the interests of the pay-TV industry across Asia, promotes the protection of the IPR of TV content creators and distributors, including licensed sports TV programming.

“The pay-TV industry will continue to take necessary legal action against pay-TV content copyright and illegal TV signal broadcast violators,” said Casbaa CEO Simon Twiston Davies. “We, as an industry are committed to protecting the copyright of TV content and the interests of authorised pay-TV distributors not only in Hong Kong but across the entire region. We urge Hong Kong bars, clubs and other public venues to subscribe to licensed pay-TV programming from authorised pay-TV operators.”

The DVDs and VCDs will be launched shortly in the Indian market.

Written and directed by Anjan Dutt, the film will be the second PNC film under the PNC Classics banner. Allied Film Services, an associate Company of UFO Moviez, has licensed the theatrical distribution rights of the movie for Mumbai, Delhi, Punjab, Mysore and Tamil Nadu.

Kapurchand has licensed the rights for West Bengal where the film has been very successful, states an official release.

Eros Multimedia has licensed the overseas rights while Star TV has licensed world satellite rights.

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BBC Learning English offers English language teaching programmes and online content for global radio and online audiences.

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