Category: Software

MUMBAI: State-owned telecom major MTNL has added 74 channels after the initial launch of 26 free-to-air channels, earlier this month as part of its IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) service.

MTNL had signed a deal with Time Broadband Services and its Israeli partner Optibase to develop and handle the content delivery network for its IPTV services.

The state-owned telecom provider recently launched IPTV services, through Time Broadband, utilizing Optibase‘s IPTV MGW 5100 platforms for its digital IPTV head-end operation at the company’s network operating centre, according to an official statement.

Time Broadband will have Israel-based Infogate Online as its middleware vendor while Verimatrix Inc will provide content protection solutions. The digital headend will be from Optibase.
Together with Time Broadband, Optibase is enabling the launch of the IPTV services in Delhi.

Service provider, Time Broadband is geared up to deploy IPTV services on both TV & PC delivery, through network and internet service providers across the country.

Following the initial deployment of Optibase MGW 5100 IP video head-ends providing 26 channels of Telco-grade streaming, Optibase will now be supplying an additional 74 channels, totaling 100 MPEG-4 Part 10 H.264/AVC channels.

“During the initial deployment, Optibase demonstrated their extensive IPTV know-how relating to H.264 AVC. We were impressed by the quality of the Optibase solution and the superior level of service. Therefore we decided to select the Optibase MGW 5100 integrated digital head ends for the full-scale commercial launch,” said Time Broadband Services‘ MD Sujata Dev.

Optibase CFO Danny Lustiger stated, “We are delighted with the success of our first installation of Time Broadband at MTNL Delhi Network and look forward to a long-term collaboration with our globally eminent CDN partners, driving the large scale deployment of IPTV in India.”

IPTV is a system wherein digital quality television service is delivered to consumers using broadband connections.

MUMBAI: Nokia has bagged a $400 million network expansion and services deal for over three years from Bharti Airtel Ltd, mobile services provider.

As per the three year contract, Nokia will provide managed services and expand Airtel networks to cover all towns and cities in the eight telecom circles of Mumbai, Maharashtra & Goa, Gujarat, Bihar (including Jharkhand), Orissa, Kolkata, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh (including Chattisgarh), according to an official release.

The network monitoring operations will be carried out from Nokia‘s global network services center in Chennai.

Nokia will also deploy its WAP solution across Airtel‘s national
network to enhance its mobile packet core network capabilities.

The WAP gateway to be implemented by Nokia shall enable easy usage of data services, thereby increasing the consumption of content on the Airtel network. Nokia will
provide consulting services and integrate the WAP gateway into a multi-vendor environment.

Nokia will also deploy the latest radio and core network equipment including softswitch, flexi-base stations and mini-Ultrasite base stations and provide services based on Bharti‘s capacity requirements, delivering a cost-efficient rollout of on-demand capacity.

The contract also has stringent service level agreements and performance metrics for both parties which are designed to provide consistently high quality services to subscribers and continuously enhance the user experience.

Bharti Airtel president Manoj Kohli said, “Our network leadership across India is a critical driver in the Bharti Airtel success story. Our partnership with Nokia reinforces our commitment to this cause and Nokia will provide us the latest technology and expertise to drive growth in the latent market in Eastern India and rapidly expand our coverage in Western parts of India.

“Nokia is proud to collaborate with Bharti on its initiative to take mobile services to millions of unconnected Indians and enhance the mobile data experience of its existing customers,” said Nokia India country director Ashish Chowdhary. “Our extensive managed services capability, powered with a comprehensive and high quality product portfolio makes Nokia a catalyst for providing affordable mobile services to rural consumers.

The Amazing Race Asia Online Race is launched to further connect with viewers of The Amazing Race Asia, slated for broadcast on 9 November 2006. The online race is a manifestation of AXN‘s commitment to deliver a 3600 entertainment experience for its viewers.

Contestants will have to search for clues and weave their way through a web of challenges, including tasks like assuming the role of an Amazing Race cameraman chasing contestants through the cities, a memory game and more.

The Amazing Race Asia Online Race is played in teams of two and the goal is to race from checkpoint to checkpoint online. Each team will have to complete a special task in order to get the clues to the next checkpoint. A tutorial of the race can be found at http://amazing-race-asia.axn asia.com/promotions/ online-race/index.html.

The second leg will be held on 11 November, where all eligible participants have to log in from 12 pm onwards in the final race to the finishing line where the grand prize of USD$2,000 awaits the winner. Results will be announced on 13 November 2006.

NEW DELHI: It‘s in, it‘s happening, but will it deliver on the monies? Sports broadcaster ESPN Star Sports today announced the launch of Mobile ESPN, marking its entry into the mobile value added services (VAS) domain in India.

The sports TV major sought glory at a press conference here today as the first out of the door in this field with its service, which kicks off from 15 November.

The Indian mandarins of the company were, however, taken by surprise when asked how they could claim a projected success, when the same service had to be withdrawn in the US. Mobile ESPN was launched in February with a huge promotional campaign but was disbanded within six months. Though the service was viewed as a technological success, it never caught on with consumers, who were apparently unwilling to pay a $10 to $50 premium to get highlights, fantasy sports alerts and even live games on ESPN-branded phones.

ESPN India MD RC Venkateish explained, “There (in the US) the business model was different. However, we see huge potential in the mobile arena here as the leading sports broadcaster.”

There was also some discomfort at the pitch over the rights issue — whether information of cricket, for example, being provided by ESPN Mobile could clash with rights holders like the Board for Control of Cricket in India?

Sricharan Iyengar, ESPN India vice-president (sales and marketing) and head of emerging technologies, responded to a question on how the rights issue would affect them, saying that they were presently in a “rights-agnostic” situation.

Venkateish added that they were news service providers and “no on can black out news”. He pointed out that most TV news channels were showing match reports anyway, without anyone coming in their way.

As of now, ESPN Mobile promises to launch a three-pipe outlet, with news, statistics, pre- and post-match analysis and what have you on all sports, from cricket to tennis to F1 to ice hockey through the mobile phone, Internet (through its website espnmobile.in) and TV.

Venkateish described the present TV-only scenario as the one-pipe outlet.

Sports fans will be delighted, said Iyengar, with the “360 degree” coverage of sports in all possible formats, voice, video, text, SMS and games.

Mobile ESPN services can be availed by dialling 505-ESPN (3776) on the phone or by sending an SMS to (ESPN) 3776, which will be the ESPN short code nationally. On entering the voice portal, consumers can select from a module comprising sections such as Welcome and user navigation; Cricket; Football; Sports center; and New Super Selector.

The price range is attractive, with monthly packages scaling between Rs 50 to RS 99, with the higher-end providing all possible services, including video.

Venkateish foresees a sea change in the media over the next five years, with the expected number of mobile phone users climbing by 30 per cent over the present 100 million, and ESPN has clearly pegged its business plan on the amazing growth in mobile connections across the country.

His punchline was, “We don‘t want work to come in the way of sports.”

The company is working to optimise delivery through various service providers on the mobile networks, Iyengar said.

“The voice service has been specially developed for India,” he said, adding, “this will give an hour-by-hour update.

The voice news service was more satisfactory, with crisp info on the latest sports events being packed into a short 1.20 minute take. “We are aware that the user is paying Rs 6 per minute for getting the news and have developed the programme to give him the maximum.”

So far as a business plan was concerned, the two spoke of seamless integration and an advertising model being built in.

“Once we have built up a substantial subscriber base, we can also explore advertising on the service,” Venkateish said.

The service, which is a presentation of the ESPN Star Sports joint venture, will be hyped on and off air and will see approximately Rs 400 million spent on marketing activities.

The service of ESPN mobile will start off with English, then Hindi (in the first quarter of 2007), to be followed by other Indian languages subsequently.

Gaming software is also being developed for subscribers of the service, according to Iyengar.

MUMBAI: Jump TV, a global player in the delivery of international television over the internet, has added three more channels to its basket of Indian channels. The online television platform player will be offering general entertainment channel SaharaOne TV, movie channel Filmy and a news channel Sahara Samay.

Recently, SaharaOne Media and Entertainment had entered into a long term deal with New York based broadcast distribution outfit GloboSat Entertainment in order to help the company launch its channel services at various countries.

Sahara One, Sahara Samay and Sahara Filmy will be priced individually at US$9.95 per month when launched commercially and will likely become part of a future bundle of South Asian channels, according to an official release.

JumpTV, at present, offers other Indian channels such as Sony, India TV, Amitra TV, Kairali TV, People TV, Punjab Today and Balle Balle.

JumpTV International president and chief executive officer Kaleil Isaza Tuzman said, “Hindi is the fifth most spoken language in the world. The addition of these channels makes it easier for the millions of Hindi speaking people living outside South Asia to remain connected to the television programming they know and love from home.”

JumpTV Asia-Pacific group general manager Kevin Foong said, “JumpTV remains focused on securing the global IP rights to top channels in key regions worldwide. The potential for adding more subscribers by making Sahara programming available online is exciting and provides the partners in this agreement an opportunity to profit through a revenue sharing structure.”

GloboSat president and CEO Sudhir Vaishnav said, “With our state-of-the-art production and broadcast facilities in New York and Toronto, we are able to create local content as per market needs. Our strategic partnerships with DTH, cable, broadband, IPTV, mobile and other platforms spanning across North and South America, Europe and the UK help our broadcast partners to build international presence faster.”

Also Read:
GloboSat to distribute SaharaOne channels in UK, Europe

MUMBAI: On the heels of the luanch of the channel Vom HD launch at the recently concluded television trade eevnt in Mipcom, France Rainbow HD Holdings, a subsidiary of Rainbow Media has broadened the global channel’s reach with a new distribution agreement.

Rainbow has tapped Zonemedia to sell the channel throughout much of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia.

Voom HD offers the international marketplace a lineup of high-definition (HD) programmes selected from Voom HD Networks’ 15 thematic HD channels in the US. Its content includes signature programming from Equator HD ( places and people), Gallery HD ( stories from the art world), Gameplay HD (video gaming in HD), Rave HD, (live music in 5.1 surround sound), Rush HD (adventure sports), Treasure HD (people with a passion for collecting) and Ultra HD (fashion and luxury lifestyle).

Rainbow Media senior VP business development Glenn Oakley says, “As we strategized the best possible distribution for Voom HD, Zonemedia emerged as a particularly solid choice because of its strong track record in successfully delivering third-party channels throughout the world. Voom HD’s vast array of quality high-definition programming has great appeal to the international marketplace, and we believe Zonemedia will exploit this to the fullest.”

TVOOM HD is already set for a November 1 launch in Scandinavia through a deal made by distribution company NonStop Television with Canal Digital. Today’s news opens the channel for business throughout even more of the world, with carriage deals already in the works for possible announcement over the next few months.

In addition to its impending launch in Scandinavia, three Voom branded channels have been launched in Canada, operated by High Fidelity TV: Treasure HD, Equator HD and Rush HD. Korea‘s SkyHD recently deployed a daily primetime Voom HD branded programming block this past September.

Since launching its global expansion initiative at Mipcom last year, Rainbow Media has also sold over 1,000 hours of programming from its Voom HD, WE tv, Mag Rack and sportskool brands to broadcasters around the world, including India, China, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, UK and Australia.

MUMBAI: Mobile video services are important tools to recover investments in high-speed networks. The initial end-user experience and expectations have to be managed carefully at this stage to ensure a satisfactory uptake.

Mobile operators will then have to play the role of ‘mobile media company’ and approach the planning, developing and delivery of mobile multimedia with such a mentality-something that is already being done. Small, innovative companies can actually show how these processes can be managed successfully. Other important concepts include mobile video advertising, subscriber interactivity, product bundling and others.

Frost and Sullivan finds that premium revenues from the US Mobile Video Services Markets totaled $60.79 million in 2005 and estimates to reach $1516.75 million in 2010.

The firm notes that the future of the US mobile video services market is extremely bright. With considerable resources already committed to developing this segment, stakeholders are leaving no stone unturned to ensure a satisfactory uptake. With both linear video and made-for-mobile video content available to subscribers, the overall mobile video services market expects to increase at a considerable pace.

Frost and Sullivan industry analyst Vikrant Gandhi says, “For example, mobile multicasting networks that are dedicated to providing data services promise high-quality mobile video content at reasonable price points. This combined with technology enhancements in cellular world will make more bandwidth available for next-generation wireless data services and result in greater choice for subscribers.”

The challenge then is to offer all these services in an easy-to-use manner at attractive price points. Mobile subscribers should be able to access multiple services without a proportionate increase in pricing. For instance, subscribers may not like to pay $15 for wireless data plans, $10 for multicasting services and another $5 for other types of premium mobile video services(over and above their voice plan).

“Mobile multicasting services will require a subscription pricing of their own, as will the 3G services. Any premium content offered within these two types of services will be charged extra also” adds Gandhi

Intelligent bundling of services could provide the answer. A single subscription charge for voice, video and other data services could be offered. This will then require a close cooperation between all value-chain participants.

MUMBAI: ICTV, which creates on-demand solutions that blend the choice and control of broadband video with the quality and responsiveness of television, and Hong Kong based telecom firm PCCW have announced that the ICTV ActiveVideo Distribution Network (AVDN) has been selected to enable interactive channels via television to subscribers of PCCW‘s now TV service.

The first ActiveVideo channel offered by now TV is the completely interactive “Movie Trailer Channel” that PCCW has launched in partnership with United Artists, one of the leading cinema groups in Hong Kong. The Movie Trailer Channel allows subscribers to preview movies, choose cinema locations, check programme times, request seat locations, and buy tickets using just their standard remote controls. The channel is the first in a series of ActiveVideo channels and applications that will deliver more interactive services to now TV‘s 654,000 subscribers.

The ActiveVideo Distribution Network is a usage-based content distribution service that enables operators, programmers and advertisers to bring video programming and advertising models from the Internet to the
television, including high-CPM ads that are targeted, auditable, interactive and actionable. AVDN delivers Web-driven programming and live and VOD streams – all with superior TV quality – over the existing two-way network infrastructure to any digital set-top box.

PCCW MD television and content Dominic Leung says, “ICTV has provided the quality and scalability that have enabled us to offer the most powerful interactive television platform in the world. ICTV has provided the quality and scalability that have enabled us to offer the most powerful interactive television platform in the world.

“The Movie Trailer Channel is the first example of how ActiveVideo Distribution Network will enable our subscribers to find and control an entirely new series of television channels of high-quality video with interactivity and
information that specifically meets their individual preferences.”

ICTV president and CEO Jeff Miller says, “Over the past two years, PCCW has established now TV as a world leader in the deployment of IPTV. We believe that the ability of ActiveVideo to bring standards-based, Web-driven programming and Internet-style advertising to the television will be a significant factor in helping operators like PCCW to dynamically
expand the scope of their offerings and capture new subscriber and advertising revenue.”

One of the world‘s largest and most advanced IPTV deployments, now TV enables subscribers to choose their preferred programmes from more than 110 channels. The service provides 15 channels at no charge, and allows
subscribers to select others using an “a la carte” pricing system.

Capitalising on the ability to deliver Web programming as MPEG video to any digital set-top box, the ICTV ActiveVideo platform is entirely standards-based, requiring no custom integration or proprietary development. Live and VOD programming can be blended seamlessly with content that is created and modified quickly using standard Web tools and
talent, and distributed via standard Web infrastructure.

The ActiveVideo platform utilises existing on-demand infrastructure, delivering all programming from the headend as MPEG video while using the on-demand return path to receive user input to control the programming and provide interactivity. This approach requires little set top resources and integrates with and extends existing set-top based interactive approaches.

With ActiveVideo Channels, network operators and programmers can enhance the value of existing channels by allowing viewers to take active control of what they see and when they see it. As an example, through simple clicks on their remote controls, television viewers can select an ActiveVideo Channel from the standard programme guide and enter a broadband experience that includes multiple video windows, navigational elements, channel branding, banner advertisements, and links to different video segments and images.

Screens can be manipulated to reflect personal viewing interests and purchasing preferences. Clicking on advertisements within the ActiveVideo experience enables interaction with sponsor messages, including “telescoping” to let consumers request more information, watch a demonstration or make a purchase.

MUMBAI: One out of every ten online consumers in the US watches television broadcasts online, according to the latest Consumer Internet Barometer. The Barometer, produced by The Conference Board and custom research company TNS covers 10,000 households across the US.

Online viewers say that personal convenience and avoiding commercials are the top reasons for watching TV broadcasts online. Only a small percentage of consumers claim that their traditional television viewing has decreased,
while three out of every four online viewers report no change in their viewing habits.

Many Consumers Use the Internet for Entertainment on a Daily Basis
Today, more than two-thirds of online consumers log on daily for entertainment purposes and an additional 16 per cent log on for entertainment several times a week. One in ten online consumers are watching TV broadcasts via the Internet, and about one-third of these households consist of multiple viewers.

The Conference Board Consumer Research Center director Lynn Franco says, “Although online television viewing is not a widespread phenomenon the proportion of users is likely to increase over time given consumers‘
penchant for entertainment.”

TNS senior VP Edye Twer says, “As we have learned through our ongoing research, those content providers who communicate the value, context and capabilities of online programming will be positioned to grab the greatest share of the growing market for online entertainment.

“Additionally, this is representative of a larger trend toward, ‘anytime, anywhere‘ viewing that includes the use of digital video recorders, video
on demand and portable video players, such as the iPod.”

News is the Most Widely Viewed TV Content Online : More than three out of five online TV viewers cite personal convenience
as the major reason for watching TV broadcasts online. Another reason for viewing online is the ability to avoid commercials. Other reasons are
portability and a preference for computer viewing.

Online viewers tend to watch news broadcasts more often than other types of broadcasts, with more than 62 per cent logging on for news content. Close to 50 per cent go online for entertainment viewing. Catching up on
missed content, previews, sports, and watching entire episodes of shows are also among the top draws cited by more than a quarter of viewers.

Few Consumers Are Willing to Pay for Online Television Downloads: The most popular methods for viewing TV broadcasts online are streaming and free download, cited by 53 per cent and 49 per cent of viewers, respectively. Very few consumers are willing to pay per download or enroll in subscription services

MUMBAI: Recognising and responding to the needs of an evolving media landscape, Concrete Pictures has extended the efforts of its team to include mobile phone platforms.

The creative agency has announced the completion of a branding and graphics package for the recently launched Discovery Mobile, a 24-hour mobile programming network featuring original content from across Discovery‘sfamily of networks including Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Travel Channel and Discovery Health Channel.

T“Tackling the design challenges of mobile phones, Concrete delivered a graphics package that is visually engaging, representative of the Discovery brand and well-suited for the small screen,” said Douglas Craig, vice president, new media, Discovery Communications.

Spearheading the Discovery project for Concrete Pictures was Paul Westergard, Creative Director. His creative crew designed a graphics package based entirely on organic boxes, which open, close and shift around the screen to reveal new information. The compact nature of mobile phone screens demanded that the graphics be over-sized with a dark background, so Concrete’s team incorporated this into the logo animations and menu bumpers created for the project.

Concrete Pictures’ senior VP, creative services Andy Hann says, “We have enjoyed a long and rewarding working relationship with Discovery Communications. This latest project added a new dimension to the whole picture, and we look forward to continuing to expand this area of our business with Discovery and other partners.”