Category: Software

MUMBAI:The battle for supremacy between Dish TV and Tata Sky has gone up by one more level with Harris collaborating with Tata Sky Ltd., to deliver its satellite television service via an end-to-end system that converts, processes, synchronizes and distributes digital program content.

Tata Sky is the satellite television service for the Tata Group and Star Network in India.

Designed to support 120 channels, Tata Sky‘s facility uses Harris‘ Integrator router for station routing, asserts an official release.

“At Tata Sky, we continuously invest in state-of-the-art infrastructure to provide Indian audiences with a world-class satellite television service, offering unparalleled entertainment with pristine picture quality and sound,” said Tata Sky Ltd managing director and CEO Vikram Kaushik. “The Harris broadcast equipment will help us boost the quality of our digital transmission, enabling us to deliver top-of-the-line services to our customers.”

Harris Broadcast Communications division president Tim Thorsteinson said, “Tata Sky promises to revolutionise home entertainment in India, and we are extremely pleased to work with them in this venture.”

MUMBAI: Infomedia India Ltd., special interest and directory publishing company has joined forces with the Australian business to business publisher Reed Business Information, and its online division, Catch, to launch Hotfrog.in in India.

Hotfrog.in is a free business listings site where the content is driven by its users and is maintained and updated by its users. Users are able to update their listings with press releases announcing news for their business, as well as listing products and services and linking back to external websites, informs an official release.

“Being India‘s largest Yellow Pages and having healthy partnership with Reed Business Information, it was a logical step to launch an Indian-based site as it‘s such a rapidly growing and vibrant online market,” Infomedia managing director Prakash Iyer said.

MUMBAI: Mauj Telecom, a mobile wireless solutions provider has announced their association with Lakme Fashion Week to bring the fashion extravaganza on mobile handsets. Mauj Telecom is the official mobile content partner for this event which is being held from 31 October to 4 November 2006 at Mumbai.

Mauj Telecom has tied up with leading designers like Vikram Phadnis, Sabyasaachi Mukherjee, Wendell Rodricks, Seema Khan and Deepti Toor providing them a platform to showcase their entire exquisite collection to millions of cell phone users across the globe.

People from across the country can stay abreast with the latest happenings at the LFW with exclusive wireless fashion content like animated screensavers, images, wallpapers, themes, video clips of models, interviews of designers, highlights of the shows and all the possible action on the ramp. This will be made available across majority of Indian cellular operators. Content will be available through both SMS and WAP platforms.

Mauj Telecom has also announced a contest, where by sending SMS “LFW06” to 7007 one stands a chance to be the lucky winner of a Sabyasaachi creation.

For entering the world of Lakme Fashion Week- Spring Summer Collection 2006, all one needs to do is send an SMS ‘LFW‘ to the shortcode 7007 or log on to the WAP portal www.wap.mauj.com. One can access designers‘ collection with whom Mauj has tied up by sending keywords to 7007.

MUMBAI: MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom has announced that Mika Salmi has been named President of Global Digital Media for MTVN. Salmi was formerly CEO of Atom Entertainment, the company he founded and which was acquired by MTVN in August.

Salmi will work across MTVN‘s growing portfolio of multiplatform brands to further develop and implement the company‘s strategy of building an engaging universe of music, games, entertainment, networking and interactivity for its communities of targeted audiences. He will report directly to MTVN chairman and CEO Judy McGrath, and will become a member of her senior strategy team, asserts an official release.

Commenting on Salmi‘s appointment McGrath said, “I am incredibly pleased to have his talent and leadership experience on board to lead our digital media transformation, worldwide. With Mika‘s guidance, our digital teams will continue the momentum we have today, to extend our brands across every platform while creating new business, and next generation applications across every device that engages our community. And he brings that upbeat entrepreneurial spirit that is a hallmark of the digital age.”

“What MTVN calls its ‘maniacal consumer focus‘ will be the driving engine for our Global Digital Media strategy. We will engage consumers with an industry-leading digital experience through interactivity and community in all media including video, music and games,” he added

MUMBAI: Thumbplay an online retailer of mobile entertainment content in the US has announced an agreement with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) to distribute products from Sony’s film and television portfolio.

Thumbplay is the first direct-to-consumer mobile company to offer SPHE’s premium content. Thumbplay members will now have direct access to content from SPHE’s entire mobile content catalogue, which includes content from feature films like Open Season and Spider-Man 3 to television shows such as Jeopardy, Days of Our Lives and The Boondocks.

Thumbplay founder and CEO Are Traasdahl says, “Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has been a leader in the arena of digital entertainment. Our partnership with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment allows us to deliver an extensive selection of exciting mobile entertainment to our members, who can now enjoy Sony’s premium catalog of motion pictures and television shows.”

Thumbplay members will have direct access to games, ringtones and wallpapers from SPHE’s extensive mobile catalog. Highlights include content from upcoming and past releases.

Thumbplay’s catalogue also includes Sony’s diverse television content such as 80s hits like Different Strokes and What’s Happening; daytime dramas like Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless and game shows such as Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

SPHE president mobile entertainment Eric Berger says, “We are thrilled to bring a personalized mobile experience to wireless consumers of all ages with our diverse content. Thumbplay‘s success in the direct-to-consumer mobile market represents an excellent platform to further expand SPHE’s vision of making entertainment accessible to consumers whenever, wherever and however they want.”

Thumbplay currently offers more than 50,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content, including ringtones, wallpapers, games and text-based services. Members can purchase content as part of the Thumbplay subscription plan or on ? la carte basis.

Movie lovers can enjoy Open Season right on their mobile phone through a large selection of content featuring original voicetones from the cast, ringtones and wallpapers from the first animated film from Sony Pictures Animation.

MUMBAI: US broadcaster Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) is further expanding its portfolio of consumer businesses on emerging platforms.

It will launch Super Deluxe, an online comedy channel combined with interactive online-community tools, will launch on broadband in January 2007. Super Deluxe will be ad-supported, making the network entirely free to consumers, and will integrate advertising in different ways.

Turner Entertainment Group president Mark Lazarus says, “Super Deluxe is not only the latest innovation from Turner Broadcasting, which pioneered such concepts as the basic cable network and the 24-hour news channel, but also the most recent addition to the company‘s growing broadband network portfolio that includes CNN Pipeline and GameTap, among others. Its combination of original content and extensive online community tools will make it an ideal destination for young adults eager for this type of material in a dynamic interactive environment.”

Drew Reifenberger will be Super Deluxe senior VP, GM. He said, “Today, the online comedy experience is largely comprised of random clips and homemade movies contained within a generic experience. Super Deluxe is focused on original, ‘television-quality‘ programming, presented with a distinct editorial voice and in a highly interactive and social environment. It will deliver an experience more akin to watching your favorite TV show with friends – hanging out and sharing a laugh.”

Super Deluxe will offer original comedy from both established and rising comedy stars, developed exclusively for the network and celebrating the artists‘ creative spirit, providing comedic talents a forum to showcase and share their own inspired concepts and performances. Each artist will have his/her own personalised area featuring exclusive content, a blog and opportunities to promote appearances and projects or further customize their part of the network.

Original programming will range from short films and sketches to episodic series and more. In addition to being available online, Super Deluxe content will be available via cable VOD, wireless devices and personal media players.

Programming is just the beginning, however. Super Deluxe‘s community tools will allow fans to interact with artists and each other, adding an extra dimension of value for the consumer. Through these tools, fans can express their own sense of humuor and interact with artists and others by creating their own profiles, uploading their own videos, rating and sharing content, making comments, sending messages and more. Fans can even join or create groups with other artists and users to share and discuss their favorite humorous topics, comedians or anything else that strikes their interest.

MUMBAI: Mobile games are closing the gap to traditional computer games with the launch of a new technology that enables richer mobile experience.

US broadcaster NBC has announced that The Office Games has produced a flash-enhanced game for its series of six mini-games, based on Verizon Wireless‘ new Flash Lite for Brew technology.

NBC says that the new The Office Games feature cleaner graphics, enhanced sound and quicker relay times and can be played on select Get It Now-enabled phones. As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Indiagames had developed NBC‘s The Office Games to be played at the office or at home.

With shorter play times, Verizon Wireless says that its customers will find the intuitive array of games easy to navigate and simple to play — which is good for a break, after a stressful meeting or on an awkward phone call. The
games feature the characters from the television series participating in a selection of cubical game-play including Wasteketball, Paper-Football (Hateball), Table-Top Golf, Office Paper War, Chair-Racing and more.

Indiagames VP US Sean Malatesta says, “We are proud to bring the comedy of The Office to Verizon Wireless using the incredible Flash Lite technology. It truly has been a great partnership indeed. These games are so addictive — and the new graphics make them even more fun!” .

Indiagames is striving to bring high-quality CG games to mobile. With increased mobile phone screen sizes, Indiagames has begun to rollout a series of graphically driven games, similar to desktop games, but made for mobile. The new high-resolution graphics for NBC‘s The Office Games are closer to those seen in traditional video games — with clean transitions during score updates and between games. Similarly, the maneuverability has been enhanced to capitalize on player reaction times.

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Indiagames to develop mobile game on NBC‘s hit comedy ‘The Office‘

MUMBAI: Digital Music Group Inc. (DMGI) a content owner and distributor of digital music and video recordings, has announced three long-term and four short-term distribution agreements with a number of independent record labels totaling over 5,000 audio tracks. Under the terms of the agreements signed with each company, DMGI will distribute these music catalogs to online music stores worldwide.

DMGI chief executive officer Mitchell Koulouris said, “Digital Music Group continues to build its music catalog with world-class content.The transactions that have been announced underscore our continued commitment to expanding our catalog with high-quality repertoire from the world‘s best independent labels.”

The three new music catalogs under long-term distribution agreements include:

– Music for Little People, which is a children‘s music label designed for people turned off by standard commercial kiddie fare, with children‘s albums that feature such artists as Taj Mahal, Maria Muldaur, Los Lobos, and many others.

– DM Records which features the catalog of Ichiban Records, an Atlanta-based label and also includes alternative rock labels Sky and Naked Language, with such acts as Pylon, The Swans, Moe Tucker and whip-hop label WRAP, which features MC Breed, DJ Smurf, Treacherous Three and more.

– The Cryptic Corporation which contains a number of audio and visual recordings by noted avant-garde band The Residents. It features Residents classics such as Fingerprince, Our Finest Flowers, The King & Eye and Wormwood Live. Also featured in the catalog are numerous music videos including versions of Wormwood Live, Eskimo and dozens of Residents classic tracks, informs an official release.

– DRT Entertainment which is an independent record label founded in 2003 by Derek Shulman, Ron Urban and Theodore Green. DRT‘s artist roster includes: Artimus Pyledriver, Blindside, Clutch,The Rasmus and many more. The label also re-masters and re-releases older material from their artists. Last year, they re-released 35 Anniversary editions of many albums by Shulman‘s former band, Gentle Giant.

– ProgRock Records roster includes new, developing artists as well as established artists, including Planet P (featuring Tony Carey), Oliver Wakeman (son of Yes‘ Rick Wakeman), Ajalon, and Erik Norlander.

– Takeover Records, formed by the members of the multi-platinum band, Yellowcard, Takeover Records is an alternative/punk rock label based in Long Beach, California. Takeover Records features albums from such alt-rock stalwarts as Yellowcard, Hey Mike and Bracket.

– FILMguerrero, formed by John Askew in the late 1990‘s as a means to release the music of his friends and close associates, adds the release

MUMBAI: Sateelite operators SES Global and Eutelsat have announced a joint investment in the first European satellite infrastructure for broadcasting video, radio and data to mobile devices and vehicle receivers.

In view of the innovative nature of this market SES and Eutelsat have agreed to join forces to form a new company, which will operate and commercialise the S-band payload on
W2A. The company will be set up by SES Astra and Eutelsat following approval from relevant regulatory agencies. The S-band space segment represents an investment of
approximately 130 million euros.

The S-band (2.0 and 2.2 GHz), which represents a new frequency band for both SES and Eutelsat, provides a set of frequencies optimised for supporting a wireless distribution
network for delivering video and other services to mobile devices, including phones, PDAs, laptops and vehicle receivers. Mobile video services represent a large and currently undeveloped market in Europe, emerging today through existing terrestrial solutions.

The development of mobile video services through a satellite-based hybrid network will provide content providers and operators with alternative or complementary solutions to terrestrial based networks and will bring the benefit of the universal coverage that satellites can provide.

Eutelsat has commissioned the W2A satellite from Alcatel Alenia Space for launch on Sea Launch in the beginning of 2009. W2A will be operated at 10 degrees East, with a state-of the art S-band payload which will be an essential building-block for a hybrid infrastructure over Europe, combining satellite and terrestrial networks, to provide both universal coverage and indoor penetration for mobile video services. The S-band payload has also been optimised for a broad range of business applications such as security surveillance and other commercial data services including two-way communications.

SES Global president and CEO Romain Bausch says, “This joint investment will allow for the development of new, innovative satellite delivered mobile broadcast services thereby enabling satellite to compete with as well as to complement terrestrial infrastructure solutions in the mobile television and radio distribution chain. Satellite provides a unique and highly efficient coverage and the joint investment will therefore increase choice and convenience for consumers, content providers and service providers.

“Mobile applications form an important element of our strategic development plan, and by joining forces with Eutelsat, this infrastructure investment offers an attractive business opportunity in line with our internal investment hurdle rates.”

Eutelsat chairman and CEO Giuliano Berretta says, “Digital content and the mobility afforded by new portable devices lie at the heart of the current dynamic in the communications landscape, bringing new revenue streams for electronics manufacturers, content and service providers, as well as new products for consumers.

“Through a resource, which is optimised in terms of bandwidth and universal coverage, satellite services using S-band frequencies can make a vital contribution to the overall
success of the mobile broadcasting market while the design of the S-band payload is also fully suited for two-way communications. By adding this new payload to a platform using our traditional set of Ku-band and C-band frequencies it has also been possible to put in place an efficient and cost-effective solution for entering a new frequency band.

MUMBAI: From today 1 November viewers of US broadcaster CBS‘ drama CSI: NY can use their mobile phone to play CSI: Q.

This is an interactive, live text-messaging game in which audiences test their crime-solving skills by predicting the outcome of the episode, with an eye on winning $10,000. This marks the first time that CBS has applied an interactive text messaging component, previously used on reality programmes and game shows, to one of its prime time dramas. In India the CSI franchise airs on AXN.

CSI creator and CSI: NY executive producer Anthony Zuiker, who also created the CSI board game, Senses, came up with the idea for CSI: Qand is formulating the questions.

He says, “CSI: Q invites viewers to watch CSI: NY in an interactive fashion with a level of game play to track the ‘criminal,‘ ‘science,‘ and ‘intent‘ (motive) of the story. Our goal is to use the mobile phone in an unprecedented fashion to drive viewership back to the television while at the same time enhancing the viewing experience for the CSI fan.”

During the CSI: NY episodes being broadcast on CBS on 1, 8, 15 November, an on-air promo will run with one question that asks viewers to predict what will happen at the end of that night‘s episode. Viewers will send their responses via text message to 38383 and will be entered into the drawing to win the weekly prize of $10,000. Additionally, viewers can enter for free by going to the CSI: NY site through CBS.com (where the Official Rules are also posted).

Each weekly winner will be announced on-air during the following week‘s episode of CSI: NY. The questions will differ for the Eastern, Pacific and Hawaiian time zones.

CSI: NY is about forensic investigators who use high-tech science to follow the evidence and solve crimes in the Big Apple. The show stars Gary Sinise, Melina Kanakaredes, Carmine Giovinazzo, Hill Harper, Eddie Cahill and Anna Belknap.