Category: Software

MUMBAI: Wire & Wireless India Ltd (WWIL) is expanding its footprint in Delhi. The demerged cable company of Zee Group has acquired a 51 per cent stake in Satellite Channels, a multi-system operator (MSO) who was operating in the Cas (conditional access system) notified area of Delhi, for an undisclosed amount.

WWIL has also signed up with Spectranet and Sanjay Cable Network. All these MSOs were disqualified for Cas as they were found not ready by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for making the switchover to addressable system by 31 December.

“We have bought 51 per cent in Satellite Channels and have signed up with Spectranet and Sanjay Cable Network,” WWIL CEO Jagjit Kohli tells Indiantelevision.com.

Earlier, WWIL had acquired control over 5 Star which operates in Andheri, a western suburb of Mumbai. Kohli claims to have added 250,000 subscribers in recent months through aggressive acquisitions. WWIL is offering to cable operators a valuation of Rs 2,000-3,000 per subscriber where it will hold 51 per cent stake.

“However, our focus now is to roll out the digital boxes. We will be soon introducing various packages,” Kohli says.

WWIL will introduce a combo package where consumers who buy STBs on outright purchase and take annual subscription will be offered an attractive subsidy, Kohli says. This scheme will make available 100 TV channels. “We will be offering under this at least 20 pay channels. We will be subsiding the boxes,” he adds, while declining to spell out the pricing structure of the package.

WWIL‘s initial fund requirement is Rs 5 billion and the company plans to invest Rs 7.14 billion over two years. “We have already lined up a debt of Rs 2.15 billion,” Kohli says.

WWIL is likely to list by mid-January or early February, he adds.

MUMBAI: Research firm Point Topic has come out with a report on the growth of IPTV.

The report states that Global IPTV subscribers reached 2.95 million as of 30 June 2006, up two-fold from 1.47 million a year earlier.

Hong Kong‘s PCCW is the largest IPTV operator worldwide with 444,000 paying IPTV subscribers, followed by France Telecom with over 300,000 and Spain‘s Telefonica with 267,000 paying IPTV subscribers.

Europe is the most important region for IPTV, displaying the strongest growth in subscriber numbers during that time-frame.

The Asia-Pacific region had 987,000 IPTV subscribers at end-June, versus 612,000 a year earlier; Europe had 1.51 million, up from 521,000; and the Americas had 409,000, up from 267,000.

Point-Topic’s research shows that the picture of IPTV development worldwide remains a complex one. The success of an operator in executing an IPTV strategy depends on many things. The most important are

– the local competitive environment, in the form of cable and direct-to-home (DTH) satellite operators

– the local regulatory environment. In some cases, the regulator will not permit telcos to enter the TV market, in other cases telcos are allowed to carry TV over fibre but not copper, and in other cases there are no restrictions

– the type and condition of the network. Operators with a largely fibre network, such as FastWeb and PCCW, were able to deploy IPTV early. Operators with unsuitable copper networks, especially in the US, are building fibre to enable services such as IPTV

BANGALORE: Philips Electronics India (PEIL) announced the launch of their Ambilight Full Surround TV in Bangalore today, along with updates on their Portable digital audio players or MP3 players in common parlance.

Ambilight is a proprietary technology, a Philips invention that makes the viewing experience intense and immersive by throwing a soft glow on the wall behind the screen to enhance perceived brightness, contrast and colour accuracy, the company said. Ambilight Surround TVs are made in Philips Belgium plant.

The ad campaign for promoting this new offering commenced on December 15 and will run till the end of January next year. Around Rs 90 million has been earmarked for promoting Philips overall, of which more than half or around Rs 50 million has been allocated for the Ambilight campaign. Excluding the Ambilight campaign, Philips has spent around Rs 130 million during this calendar year towards product promotion and marketing.

The Ambilight campaign comprises of a ‘Hulk’ TVC, ads in magazines and outdoor. Philips is targeting the A and A+ cities initially and expects to garner about 10-15 per cent (around 50,000 units in absolute numbers) of the estimated 400,000 high end TV market in India. Currently Philips has a 6 per cent piece of the overall Indian TV market pie, with their current brand and Ambilght campaigns want to ramp this to 10 per cent.

The Ambilight Hulk TVC has been created globally by DDB (India-Mudra) and the media buying is by Carat. The TVC media plan includes primetime Hindi channels, news channesl and the Tamil, Kannada and Bengali channels. Philips have chalked out plans to have new TV product launches every two to three months and will be finalizing the spends for each campaign ‘wave’.

Also on the anvil are marketing campaigns for their MP3 players which have been launched so far in 10 cities in India.

MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms Limited (Zee), is using advanced CVR 550 multiformat standards converters from Snell & Wilcox to expand its direct-to-home offering. Twelve new CVR 550 standards converters, part of the high-performance Kudos Plus line, allow Zee TV to convert television programming from any standard, including PAL, SECAM, and NTSC, for delivery to its viewing audience.

“As India’s pioneering general entertainment network, broadcasting in six languages nationally as well as supplying feeds to international audiences, we are providing our viewers with offerings in every genre — film, news, fiction, action, celebrity shows, comedies, game shows, and more,” said Zee TV Assistant VP Technical Ravi Puri. “To provide this range of programming, we require high-quality standards conversion.

The Snell & Wilcox Kudos Plus range provides this quality and enables us to expand our offerings to the direct-to-home market seamlessly while maintaining the programming quality on which we have built our reputation.”

“The tremendous reach of Zee TV and the diversity of its programming requires a high quality of standards conversion ” said Snell & Wilcox Limited VP of marketing Joe Zaller.“With a dozen CVR 550 systems in place, Zee TV is able to convert and distribute virtually any media asset without compromising quality, regardless of the standard in which that material was originated.”

The Kudos Plus CVR 550 is an advanced multiformat four-field, four-line aperture standards converter designed to deliver excellent results at an economical price point. Just 1 RU in size, the CVR 550 provides full bidirectional operation between composite PAL, NTSC, and SECAM standards, as well as 10-bit SDI signals, along with AES audio handling.

The compact converter’s performance, size, and price make it ideal for a wide range of applications including mobile applications, news, and transmission. Like all Snell & Wilcox conversion solutions, the CVR 550 is fully compatible with the RollCall monitoring system and IQ Modular infrastructure systems, which simplify management of processing and distribution across the Zee facility and television channels.

MUMBAI: With a view to building upon its wireless initiatives and its efforts in creating original content for mobile US, broadcaster MTV has created MTVN Mobile Media.

This new unit is dedicated to growing the company’s mobile entertainment business.

MTVN Mobile Media will be responsible for managing mobile partnerships and content distribution for the company, and will support the teams at the individual MTVN brands in developing a wide portfolio of mobile content and applications–including personalisation, entertainment, information and messaging products.

The unit will be led by Greg Clayman, who has been promoted to MTVN Mobile Media senior VP. MTVN Mobile Media reports into MTVN Global Digital Media, led by its president Mika Salmi, and MTVN Affiliate Sales and Marketing, led by its president Nicole Browning.

MTV Networks chairman and CEO Judy McGrath says, “Connecting with our consumers on every platform they love is at the heart of our digital strategy. MTVN Mobile Media will help our brands take it even further in distribution and product development, and it will expand our global wireless footprint even more, so the communities around our brands can access our content anywhere.”

Salmi says, “Our audiences lead an on-demand lifestyle and our brands deliver the best pop-culture, music, comedy and entertainment programming on the handset. With MTVN Mobile Media, we’re poised to deliver even more compelling mobile content and further deepen our connection with our viewers.”

MTV says that it publishes more than 600 clips and 30 hours of video per month in the United States alone, across all major carriers and leading MVNOs. Globally, the company has partnerships with 68 carriers and connections with more than one billion subscribers, making MTVN the largest wireless content provider of any entertainment company.

Browning says, “We are clearly primed to take our programming to the next level, and as we build on our fast-growing mobile video business and add more channels, more content, and more distribution around the world, we will continue to focus on mobile games, personalization products such as ringtones and graphics, and mobile web site development.”

The MTVN mobile programming spanning every genre of entertainment and engaging nearly every demographic includes:

• Original made-for-mobile programs, including MTV’s Sway’s Hip Hop Owner’s Manual, Comedy Central‘s Clip Joint and VH1’s Celebhead.

• Extensions from such television franchises as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart; Laguna Beach; SpongeBob SquarePants; VH1’s Best Week Ever; Logo’s Noah’s Arc.

• Original animation, such as Usavitch and Lightman from Flux in Japan and MTV International’s “Wulffmorgenthaler”;

• “Making of,” behind-the-scenes and after-shows developed exclusively for the wireless medium;

• MTV, VH1 and CMT music video premieres and exclusive music performances from such franchises as VH1’s Live@VH1.com and CMT’s Studio 330 Sessions and simulcasts of tentpole properties like The MTV Europe Music Awards;

• Content highlighting social issues important to MTVN audiences, such as MTVN International’s HIV/Aids prevention campaign, Staying Alive;

• The largest selection of stand-up comedy on mobile, made available by Comedy Central.

MTVN also has forged new ground with a number of notable industry firsts: Nickelodeon was the first kids’ television network to offer text messaging promoted on-air. Spike TV Mobile, in partnership with Amp’d Mobile, was the first network to stream a sporting event live on the handset. VH1 is defining the standard for television/mobile integration with Mobile Junk 20, an extension of the “Web Junk 20” television show that seamlessly migrates viewers from the television set, to the handset and back to the television. And Neopets introduced the first entertainment-based web-to-wireless application of its kind, letting Neopets members engage with their Neopets characters, stories and activities on their handsets just as they would online.

MUMBAI: US media conglomerate NBC Universal says that its television networks had a strong year in interactive television.

40 iTV programmes or events were launched across 12 business units, and generated over 130 million web votes and SMS messages.

The wide variety of iTV features ranged from choosing the Lucky Case for the chance to win $10,000 on NBC‘s game show Deal or No Deal to single-screen synchronous interaction with Bravo‘s Top Chef to in-show text alerts from the characters of USA Network‘s The 4400.

NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, Digital Content and Cross-Network Strategy president Jeff Gaspin says, “We need to find ways to engage consumers like never before. These interactive applications give us insight into our viewers‘ behaviour and offer them opportunities to connect with their favorite programming.”

NBC Universal director, iTV product development Jon Dakss says, “ITV is a huge area of growth for the company. It has significantly changed television viewing habits, making it a much more hands-on experience. Viewers are clearly responding in record numbers, and we are excited to launch a number of new interactive features in the coming year.”

This year, NBCU says that it achieved several milestones in the iTV universe. The company launched seven single-screen iTV applications, more than any media company in the US, reaching millions of viewers. In addition, NBCU‘s interactive programmes, like Deal or No Deal and Bravo‘s Project Runway received over 100 million web votes and 30 million SMS messages. In February, NBC became the first U.S. network to deploy the same single-screen iTV application to multiple digital platforms simultaneously during the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Moreover NBCU‘s success in the iTV space has translated into several sponsorship opportunities. Bravo‘s Top Chef and Sears Kenmore PRO accomplished three firsts for a US network programme by deploying the first sponsored 1-screen enhanced TV element over a digital cable network, the first 1-screen enhanced TV element for a show across multiple digital cable systems simultaneously, and the first sponsored cross-carrier video message to a cell phone. In Bravo‘s first season of Top Chef single-screen interactivity that was made available to Time Warner Cable digital subscribers culminated in a peak of 30 per cent viewer participation.

NBCU‘s iTV department is part of a new NBC Universal division known as the Technology Growth Center, which continues to grow as NBCU‘s digital efforts expand. The iTV team has made two new hires further bolstering its team. Andy Castin joins from ABC/Disney as a Senior iTV Technical Producer, working with NBC‘s Sports and News divisions. Elena Ritchie from Motricity (formerly GoldPocket Wireless) also joins the group as an iTV Technical Producer and will focus on iTV initiatives for NBC‘s entertainment properties.

MUMBAI: This is a deal that looks to push television on the mobile in New Zealand.

Sky Television and Vodafone have launched a new TV service, Sky Mobile TV. The new mobile service is for customers of Vodafone with 3G handsets. The service will be available from early next year and will comprise a bundle of at least eight channels for a $2.50 per week subscription. As an introductory offer, early subscribers will receive the first three weeks free.

Sky Mobile TV will deliver a variety of entertainment and information channels, including an exclusive made-for-mobile news channel [Sky News] plus sport and documentary programmes. Some channels will be broadcast as live and others will be edited for mobile.

Channels that are available include Sky Sport News, Sky News, Sky Movies, CNN, MTV, E! and Cartoon Network. Sky will also broadcast live sports events including Rugby, International cricket and European football. These will be available to Vodafone’s Sky Mobile TV subscribers on a pay per view basis

Sky CEO John Fellet says, “Our strategy is to offer content to customers anytime, anywhere so that they can watch what they want, when they want to. SKY Mobile TV enables people to keep up with the latest news, sport and entertainment wherever they are. Vodafone is an ideal partner to make this happen and we look forward to developing this relationship further.”

Vodafone CEO Russell Stanners says, “We’re excited to be able to offer this service to our customers in partnership with SKY. Multi channel mobile TV is an important element of our content strategy. The mobile broadcast of live sport events is an area where mobile TV has taken off internationally and is one that we feel certain sports fans in New Zealand will embrace”.

NEW DELHI: Times Broadband Services Pvt Ltd (TBSPL) has expressed its preparedness with a content delivery network for IPTV which it wants to offer to telecom and cable TV operators.

“We are ready with 100 TV channels and have set up an agnostic platform,” said Times Broadband CEO Sujata Dev.

TBSPL had tied up with MTNL to offer IPTV on the telecom major‘s network. Now it is also looking at going with other telecom operators as well.

The company expects 500 channels would come on board their platform for IPTV. TBSPL has already signed up with a few content providers which includes Time Media, IMI, Film and Television Producers‘ Guild, Globecast and Star TV. “I cannot disclose the names of many others because IPTV would need a little more clarity as far as regulations are concerned and that would decide on the tariff of pay channels,” Dev said.

Many broadcasters are hesitant to sign in as content providers because they are uncertain whether the service would be controlled by the Cas rules or treated under telecom or IT rules.

“IPTV is a value-added service for a telecom operator and we hope that it would be dictated by telecom laws and regulations,” Dev said.

The formal launch was done by minister of state for urban development and poverty alleviation, Ajay Maken, who declared this (IPTV technology) as an unthinkable revolution.

Dev in her presentation said that TBSPL would aggregate content from multiple sources and provide the content delivery platform to telecom operators. The company has partners in Hewlett Packard, Optibase, Verimatrix, Kassena and Amino.

Dev said that at the moment TBSPL is offering 100 TV channels, FTA, and list of pay channels as second tier; 10 feature films through video on demand with fast forward, rewind and pause features; 10 hours of music cutting across genres; 10 hours of interactive games, 10 hours of browsing and 100 TV-to-TV SMS. Later, there would come premium offerings, which will include video telephony on TV with plug-in camera; T-Banking, T-information; T-time shift TV, etc.

The operation is intended as a conduit between the telecom operators and content producers and providers in the convergence space “In convergence technology there is always some discrepancy against one of the players, and this is where we play the role of the conduit,” Dev said

MUMBAI: For one of the oldest film production and distribution houses, taking a leap into the new digital era is a big challenge. Rajjat A Barjatya knows it is a slow brick-by-brick building process, quite different from the 60-year-old journey that Rajshri group had made in the Bollywood world.

He is lining up content for the broadband and entertainment portal that his company has launched. Up his sleeve is the latest catch: acquiring digital rights of India‘s epic TV serial Mahabharat which he will stream and offer for download on his portal, www.rajshri.com.

“I am bullish on this property. It was a high TV-rated show and will build heavy traffic on our website which is predominantly for the non resident Indians,” he says.

On offer will be 94 episodes of 45 minutes, refreshed each day. While no charge will be levied on consumers who can watch the streaming content, Barjatya tells Indiantelevision.com that he will charge $1.99 on downloads per episode. “We will only make downloads available after 10 days. We want to first attract consumers and are rolling the series out daily like on TV,” says the managing director of Rajshri Media, the digital entertainment and new media arm of Rajshri group.

For those who want to download the entire Mahabharat series, the rate will work out cheaper. “We haven‘t yet firmed up on the pricing of this. But the problem is that it will take 72 hours of download,” says Barjatya.

The revenue streams will, thus, be advertising and transaction based. Having acquired the mobile rights as well, Barjatya has tied up with Reliance Mobile. “Subscribers of reliance can watch the episodes on mobile TV. They can also download short video clips of Mahabharat and games,” he says.

Rajshri Media has also acquired digital rights for several other TV series across multiple genres. “We will be rolling them out in due course,” says Barjatya.

Mahabharat will be available in multiple language versions: original Hindi, Hindi with English subtitles and Tamil. The TV series will be available for both, free streaming and paid downloads, to a global audience on PCs and other broadband enabled devices, on demand 24X7.

Speaking on the launch of Mahabharat on Rajshri.com, producer-director of Mahabharat Ravi Chopra says, “While directing Mahabharat, I became convinced that this epic is not for us Indians alone – but for the whole wide world. Its timeless message can restore the eternal values of peace and harmony in the strife torn world of today. I am delighted at the initiative taken by Rajshri.com to make this memorable piece of work available to viewers worldwide”.

Rajshri also offers streaming of close to 100 Hindi movies on its website. Its latest movie, Vivah, was premiered on the portal simultaneously along with its theatrical release. This was the first time in India that a film was being made available on the internet at the day of its release.

The downloading of Vivah was at a payment of $9.99 through an international credit card.

Now Vivah can be downloaded to own the content. “We have removed the digital rights management rights on Vivah from today. It is almost like buying a DVD. Earlier nobody who subscribed for it could watch it outside 72 hours. Nor could they copy it because of a special software that was used,” Barjatya says.

Anil Ambani‘s Adlabs has just released the DVDs of Vivah in overseas markets, he adds. “We haven‘t given the home video rights to anybody yet for the India territory. We haven‘t also sold the satellite rights.”

MUMBAI: NT Media Corp, a media and entertainment company, has announced that it has signed an agreement to distribute its music on eMusic, the retailer of independent music and numerous other digital music stores, including mobile platforms and subscription services.

NT Media Corp. announced the launch of its Music Division in September 2006 and recently announced the signing of Mikey Mo the MC. He is scheduled to be the first of NT Media‘s music artists to be distributed on eMusic, asserts an official release.

NT Media Corp. CEO Ali Moussavi said, “When we launched our music division, we made the decision to focus on digital distribution. We are very excited to have our first artist to be distributed on eMusic.”

The distribution deal with eMusic is through a collaborative distribution agreement with shelter from the storm records and includes numerous internet destinations and mobile download platforms, adds the release.