Category: Software

MUMBAI: Joost, the world‘s first broadcast-quality internet television service, has attracted investments of $45 million from five selected parties.

This funding will enable Joost to accelerate product development, global expansion, localization, and service offerings.

“We‘ve carefully selected these investors from a variety of interested parties, as they are best-in-class in their respective arenas and bring unique assets to Joost that will enable us to significantly accelerate growth and development of the company,” said Joost co-founder Janus Friis.

Index Ventures, an European venture capital firm which invests in impactful technologies that have global reach, led the round with Sequoia Capital.

Index Ventures general partner Danny Rimer said, “We are excited to be working with Niklas and Janus once again as we see the same ground-breaking potential in Joost that we saw in Skype.

“By leveraging proven P2P architecture and assembling a world class management team, they have made a powerful idea simple and brought new services to market in record time. Our investment in Joost signals Index Ventures continued commitment to investing in impactful technologies.”

Roelof Botha, general partner, Sequoia Capital, added, “Feature length video on the Internet has been long on promise and short on delivery for some time. Full screen commercial content delivered online has simply not been compelling for the viewer and has been far too costly for the content owners.”

Joost allows content owners to reach audiences of any size at any time where the viewer can “lean back” to enjoy an immersive yet interactive video experience.

At the same time, Joost enables brand marketers to efficiently deliver precisely targeted and measurable advertisements.

Hutchison Whampoa Limited chairman Li Ka-shing has invested in Joost through his charitable foundation, the Li Ka Shing Foundation.

LLi Ka-shing stated, “We were excited about the opportunity to invest in Niklas and Janus. With the quality, content, speed and usability of Joost‘s platform, and the community-targeted service offerings, we expect Joost will revolutionize the Internet television market.”

In addition to its investment, CBS has contributed more than 2000 hours of CBS entertainment, sports and news programming.

Entertainment programming offered includes the full CSI franchise, Survivor, NCIS, Numbers and Fat Actress, news content includes the CBS evening news with Katie Couric, Face the nation, clips form the Eastly show, 48 hours, and CBS Sunday morning and sports content includes College football highlight show, NFL today hot topic, Game of the week, One2one and Go pro or go home.

Also an investor in the round, Viacom is a “Key Launch Partner” providing channels and programming from across all of its properties including: Comedy Central, MTV, VH1 and Paramount Pictures.

MTV will offer popular shows, both past and present, including Laguna Beach, Beavis & Butthead, Real World, Punk‘d and My Super Sweet Sixteen, while Comedy Central will feature episodes from Stella, CCP‘s and Freak Show.

Also, Paramount Pictures will be providing full-length feature films from its catalogue of classics and recent releases.

Joost provides a new way of watching TV that combines the best of full-screen television entertainment with the interactive and community benefits of the Internet to bring broadcast-quality video to viewers anytime, anywhere.

Based on a state-of-the-art, secure, peer-to-peer streaming technology, Joost can be accessed with a broadband Internet connection and offers video content to viewers for free.

Joost features more than 150 channels with programming across all genres, including: cartoons and animation; entertainment and film; sports; comedy; lifestyle and documentaries; and sci-fi.

Channels and programs available on Joost vary by geographic region, based on copyright ownership.

NEW DELHI: Seeking to regularise internet services, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended that IPTV and IP-VPN would not come under the definition of internet, and suggested that ISPs shall not be permitted to have PSTN/ PLMN connectivity and shall not allocate E.164 numbering.

It also wants to remove restrictions on the use of devices/protocol employed to make internet telephony calls to facilitate use of affordable and user-friendly devices/adapters conforming to international organisations specification like ITU/ IETF.

General consumer awareness to use authorised internet telephony services only needs to be developed. Print and electronic media will be effective in promoting such awareness.

The Trai recommendation prefaces that that the department of telecommunication had sought these, and says: “DoT has further conveyed that the review should address the issue of a large number of ISP licenses and limited viability issues, illegal or grey market activities and level playing field vis-?-vis other telecom service providers.”

The recommendation says that the scope of internet access and internet content may be adopted in internet service license to bring clarity.

Accordingly, it has defined internet access as “Use of any Device/ technology / methodology to provide access to Internet unless explicitly prohibited.”

“All content available without any access restriction on Internet and include web hosting, web co-location but do not include service providers‘ configured closed user group services,” it says.

“In view of this IP-VPN and IPTV services are not permitted,” the paper says.

Active interaction of DoT with foreign companies who have significant market share in global market to encourage Web hosting in India. Such initiatives should form part of our developmental agenda and necessary policies to encourage such web hosting need to be evolved.

General consumer awareness to use authorised internet telephony services only needs to be developed. Print and electronic media will be effective in promoting such awareness.

Trai says that all non-operational ISPs have to be identified and encouraged to roll out services quickly. In case such ISPs are not interested to roll out services, a framework to surrender the license as detailed below may be made available.

All ISPs who have completed the allocated period to roll out Internet services counted from the date of issue of the ISP license and have not yet rolled out their services have option to surrender the license paying five per cent of PBG as surrender charge within six months of such notification.

All ISPs who have not roll out services and want to surrender ISP licenses may be permitted to do so within six months form date of such notification by paying 2.5 per cent of PBG as surrender charges provided they have not yet completed allocated period for roll out of services.

“All ISPs who have already started Internet services and want to surrender ISP license will be permitted to do so without any surrender charges provided it gives due notice to its subscribers,” Trai has suggested.

And all new ISP licenses shall either be issued for Category ‘A‘ or Category ‘B‘.

“Present practice of issuing Category ‘C‘ ISP licenses shall be done away with. All existing Caterogy ‘C‘ ISPs shall be encouraged to migrate to Category ‘B‘ or Category ‘A‘ by providing additional PBG and FBG.

“In case they do not migrate, they will be allowed to continue in Category ‘C‘ till expiry of existing license. It will not be renewed in Category ‘C‘,” says the paper.

The existing eight Metro and major districts ( Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkota, Chennai, Ahemdabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune) specified as separate category ‘B‘ areas for ISP licenses would be merged with the respective telecom circles while providing ISP licenses.

Existing ISPs have to pay new license fee to get integrated category ‘B‘ telecom circle license including eight major/ metro districts in respective telecom circles.

It has recommended charging of entry fee of Rs two million for Category ‘A‘ ISP and Rs one million for Category ‘B‘ ISP with immediate effect. This will not be applicable to existing ISPs.

“There will be only one ISP license to provide all services defined under ISP license including Internet telephony.

The present provision of separate ITSP license shall be done away with. An annual license fee shall be charged at the rate of 6 per cent of AGR subject to minimum of Rs 50,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 for categories ‘A‘, ‘B‘ and ‘C‘ ISPs respectively per year per licensed area.

This will provide better growth prospects to ISPs and ensure level playing field vis-?-vis other telecom service providers

A financial bank guarantee of Rs one million, Rs 100,000 and Rs 2500 for category ‘A‘, category ‘B‘ and category ‘C‘ ISPs respectively per licensed area is prescribed, which shall be submitted within three months from the date of such notifications.

The amount of bank guarantee will be reviewed from time to time as envisaged in the existing license.

Direct connectivity between ISPs shall be permitted and the scope of Internet telephony may be extended and include various categories.

“The clause 1.5 of Part II of schedule ‘C‘ relating to infrastructure facilities needs to be modified to ensure fair treatment to standalone ISPs by integrated ISPs. All tariffs for such telecom resources shall be matter between the ISP and the service provider(s) but shall be bound by any direction, if issued, by TRAI,” the recommendation says.

The present ISP licensing condition clause 11.1 of part II, schedule ‘C‘ regarding arbitration of disputes needs to be amended to incorporate procedure for redressal of disputes between telecom service providers as prescribed in Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act 1997.

Clause 13.8 of part II of schedule ‘C‘ of ISP license relating to penalty for breach of licensing conditions need to be modified to incorporate provision of penalty up to rupees one crore for violation of terms and conditions of license agreements. The appropriate provisions will help to effectively handle misuse of ISP license and deter tendencies of indulging in unlawful activities.

The definition of IP address in clause 18 of part I of schedule ‘C‘ of ISP license may be modified to permit use of up to 128 bit IP address or higher.

The provision of clause 1.10 of part II, Schedule ‘C‘ of ISP license regarding submission of encryption key needs to be modified keeping in view advancements in technologies. DoT need to work out appropriate framework after discussions with concerned agencies.

The provision of clause 1.3 of part II, Schedule ‘C‘ of ISP license provides for connection to International Internet gateway. Since security monitoring has already been mandated to ILDOs and International Internet gateway providers, the clause may be suitably modified. User Request Link (URL) based blocking is already mandated to ILDOs. This may also be mandated to International Internet gateway providers providing International Internet bandwidth.

All ISPs shall have maximum FDI cap/ equity of 74 per cent irrespective of whether they setup International Internet gateway or not. ISPs having higher FDI Cap/ equity at present shall be given a time up to two years to bring down FDI Cap/ equity to 74 per cent.

Modification in present method of charging of RF channels for back haul based on band width, number of hops, etc to user friendly procedure as percentage of AGR. This will encourage RF channel utilization for backhaul boosting Internet penetration.

The last of Trai‘s recommendations say that ISPs may be permitted to provide Unified Messaging Services (UMS) without any additional PBG.

MUMBAI: DVDs have an important role to play in the wake of competition leading to a drop in pricing, speakers at a seminar said here today.

“Pricing would make DVDS more affordable,” CII deputy chairman and Wartsila India MD Banmali Agrawala said in his welcome address.

The seminar on `DVDs: The Road Ahead‘, organised by CII and DVD+RW Alliance, discussed on global perspectives on DVD media and the future for DVD + R/RW (an advanced recordable / rewritable DVD format).

DVD+RW Alliance Board Chair / Philips IP&S Frank Simonis extolled the versatility of the medium and said, “Storage capacity has increased because of the innovation of a ‘dual layer’, while the ability to re-write data on the DVD+RW repetitively make it versatile.”

He also explained how the industry had gone about the task of spreading information about the new latest format using different resources, so that end users could understand its advantage. He pointed out the importance of understanding how the recordable / rewriteable DVD format can help business as a reliable and robust storage media.

CII national committee chairman on electronics, hardware and peripherals and chairman of Moser Baer Deepak Puri pressed on the urgent need to demystify technology for the end-user and pointed out that DVD offers lowest cost per MB of storage.

Mahesh Rangra of Moser Baer also made a presentation on the Indian market scenario, saying, “The overall optical disk market is 1006 million units. CD-ROMs are a predominant 89 per cent, DVD-ROMs 10 per cent, while CD R/W comprises one per cent of the Indian market.”

The seminar was also addressed by industry leaders in the optical media, drawn from different parts of the world, including Marianne Cali of Hewlett-Packard, Masashi Mizuta of Sony, Dr. Paul Weijenbergh DCCG Chair / Philips IP&S, Kazuo Kobayashi DCCG Deputy Chair / Ricoh, Hideharu Takeshima MKM, Vivek Chaturvedi Moser Baer India VP international marketing, and Hisao Tatsumi DVD +RW Alliance Board / Ricoh.

NEW DELHI: Roaming charges levied by different operators have to be within the ceiling tariff prescribed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) after due consultation process with all stakeholders, minister of state for communications and information technology Dr. Shakeel Ahmad said in Parliament today.

TRAI had found justifiable grounds for review of the tariff structure applicable for roaming services that had been fixed five years back, he added.

The Cellular Operators Association of India had submitted that the customer tariffs are already lowest in the world and consistently coming down and thus, roaming tariffs should also be left to market forces.

TRAI has prescribed a composite ceiling charge for regional/national roaming effective from 15th February, 2007, based on in-depth analysis of various elements of cost, data on costs, views of stakeholders, the prevailing tariff for calls originated in home networks and other relevant factors. The Cellular Operators have already revised roaming tariff accordingly.

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has proposed that the National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC) suggested by it to curb unwanted telemarketing calls should be implemented through the National Informatics Centre.

Minister of state for communications and information technology Dr. Shakeel Ahmad said that the Trai proposal had been made in a draft regulation on 23 April on the basis of stakeholders‘ responses to a consultation process for finding a solution to restrict unsolicited commercial communication to subscribers who do not want such calls, internal discussions and international practices.

Dr Ahmad said keeping the concerns of their consumers in mind, mobile service providers have already introduced a “Do not Disturb” facility for subscribers who do not wish to receive information on product and services of their mobile service provider. TRAI has advised the mobile subscribers through advertisements in leading newspapers to use this facility.

While announcing the NDNC, TRAI had said it would declare this effective only after some of the specific provisions not strictly in the domain of TRAI get clearance from the
Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India. It suggested the Registry will be a national database containing telephone numbers of the subscribers who have opted not to receive Unwanted Commercial Calls (UCC.)

In its Regulation, the Authority has mandated the telecom service providers to set up a mechanism to receive requests from subscribers who do not want to receive UCC. The service providers will maintain a Private Do Not Call List, which will include telephone numbers and other details of all such subscribers.

The expenditure for setting up and maintenance of the NDNC Registry will be borne by the Authority.

As a majority of the telemarketers are being employed by the Banking Sector, the Authority has also approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks‘ Association (IBA) to ensure that no telemarketers are engaged by the Banking Sector without valid registration certificate issued from DoT and also all the telemarketers presently engaged by the banks should register themselves with DoT as OSPs within three months.

The Authority said cooperation from all stakeholders including DoT, RBI, IBA, Telecom Service Providers, Telemarketers and the subscribers was required.

This Regulation can only become effective after the DoT recognises NIC as the agency to set up and maintain the NDNC and also implement the proposed modifications in the license conditions of the Telecom Service Providers and in the guidelines for Other Service Providers.

MUMBAI: Comcast and CareerBuilder.com have teamed together to launch a comprehensive online Jobs Channel on Comcast.net. CareerBuilder.com is the exclusive content provider for the Comcast.net Jobs Channel, which now connects the nation‘s largest broadband customer base to the nation‘s largest online jobs database.

Comcast‘s more than nine million broadband customers can now enjoy easy and immediate access to more than one million CareerBuilder.com job postings, plus online career services and tools. Users can go to Comcast.net and click on “Jobs” to enjoy this quick, convenient access.

Comcast.net, Comcast‘s broadband portal, provides 24/7 access to the latest sports, entertainment, music, news/reviews, and communication tools. CareerBuilder.com offers comprehensive job search experience, spanning national and local positions, niche industries, and newspaper partnerships.

“Comcast combines top speeds, a reliable network, and best-in-class content and applications to provide our customers the best broadband experience. We are pleased to add even more value to our service by launching the new Comcast.net Jobs Channel with CareerBuilder.com,” said Comcast senior vice president of internet product development Charlie Herrin.

“We are pleased to join forces with Comcast, the nation‘s largest broadband provider. The new Comcast.net Jobs Channel offers a valuable resource for employers looking to reach a vast audience of potential employees. Along with the added exposure for the jobs posted on CareerBuilder.com, millions of Comcast broadband customers now have convenient access to a complete online recruitment resource,” said CareerBuilder.com CEO Matt Ferguson.

The site enables job seekers to locate jobs in virtually every industry, field and job type, post up to five different versions of their resume, and get expert career advice. International positions and Spanish language search options are also available. CareerBuilder.com also features a Recommended Jobs page, which automatically lists positions that match users‘ resumes and search behavior to quickly pinpoint the right opportunities. Users can also sign up for regular email alerts on new, relevant listings

NEW DELHI: The government today denied any shortage of capacity in transponders for communications, with minister of state in the prime minister’s office Prithviraj Chavan reiterating that a total of 199 transponders were available in the satellites already launched.

Answering a question in Parliament, he said ‘We can give transponders to anybody who wants – for TV or for communication services.”

 He added: ‘We hope to have a total capacity of about 500 transponders by the end of the 11th Plan. So, there will be no shortage of any communication satellite capability. We will launch about 12 new communication satellites in the 12th Plan. Currently we have nine communication satellites orbiting, which are providing services to everybody, and we have seven remote sensing satellites for imaging applications and earth observation applications.’

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Television International has extended its contract with BSkyB for exclusive premiere of films on Sky Movies and further access on Sky‘s download service, Sky Anytime.

The rights will include Sony Pictures‘ recent acquisition of Spider-Man 3, Da Vince Code and The Pursuit of Happyness.

BANGALORE: LG India has announced its foray into the MP3 player and car audio segment.

The company has also launched a new “touché “ range of high-end home theatres, lifestyle audio systems, MP3 players, and high definition DVD that have special features such as a high-gloss piano black bodyline, a sleek touch pad and red lighting that add luxury and sophistication.

The bio-indicate lighting in the touch pads allows users to “communicate” with the product, which reacts to user movement in its touch sensor area. The company also showcased the world‘s first Dual-format High-Definition Disc Player at the occasion.

Speaking at the launch, LGEIL MD Moon B Shin said,“Our research shows that world over product aesthetics is playing a major role in consumer buying decision. We are extremely pleased to take the aesthetic appeal of products to the next level through our “Touché” series, a first in India. Like all LG products, these new launches will also be a combination of performance, technology and looks and we are confident of capturing unanimous interest of our target audience which is style conscious, upmarket and very sophisticated.”

Post this launch, LG’s product portfolio shall encompass not only home entertainment but also mobile and in-car entertainment. While the MP3 and MP4 players are priced from Rs 3000- 12,000/- , the car audios will be available at a price range of Rs 5000-60,000/-

Added Shin, “Audio Video is a focus category for LG, and we will be spending close to Rs. 50 million in the second quarter of the current year for marketing these products and aggressively targeting the huge consumer base. We are confident of achieving a turnover of Rs 4.5 billion Digital Audio Video segment by year end. This translates into a 70 per cent value growth in the segment for LG even though the industry itself is growing at the rate lower than 10 per cent. We are already the top brand in video segment and are aiming to achieve the numero uno status in digital audios segment by year end 2007.”

The Rs 50 million announced by Shin will be spent towards outdoor, print and newspaper public communications. The company will chalk out plans for their third quarter, and TVC’s could be considered at that stage, according to LGIL aast. Gm- sales and marketing and head audio video and mobile equipment Rishi Tandon. The creative work for the LG group is by Lintas while media buying is by Group M.

LGEIL achieved a turnover of Rs 82.50 billion in 2006.

MUMBAI: US media conglomerates News Corporation and NBC Universal have announced a comprehensive, multi-year content and distribution agreement with CNET Networks for their online video joint venture. The venture which looks to provide an alternative to the video social networking site Youtube will launch in a few months time.

CNet, which owns web properties such as TV.com, GameSpot and CNET.com, will provide thousands of clips to the new destination on a non exclusive basis. In addition, CNET Networks has also agreed to distribute the new site‘s library of licensed content, adding its 129 million unique monthly users to the reach of the News Corp, NBC Universal venture.

NBC Universal chief digital officer George Kliavkoff says, “A pioneering online media company, CNet Networks has long understood the value of creating richer, more authentic experiences online. We are delighted that they will be joining us as both a content provider and distributor, ensuring that we continue to add to the depth and breadth of premium video available on our site and on our video network. In addition, we further extend the reach of our protected content to their highly engaged user base.”

CNET Networks CEO Neil Ashe says, “CNet Networks is proud to be the first online-focused content company to offer its original video to this new venture. We are excited to bring video from NBC Universal, Fox, and other high – quality content providers to our users. This relationship further demonstrates our commitment to creat ing an engaging online experience at our market-leading brands.

The video site will feature thousands of hours of full-length TV programming, clips and movies, representing premium content from close to twenty networks and two major film studios. The announcement is the second non-equity content agreement for the venture. Recently, Comcast joined as a non-exclusive content provider and agreed to contribute content from E!, Style, G4, Versus and Golf Channel.