Category: Software

MUMBAI: blinkx, the video search engine on the Web, today unveiled a new site that combines the ‘sit back and watch‘ element of traditional television with the interactive experience of searching and watching video online.

Blinkx offers rich media search on the web, and it now delivers results in an interface designed for sampling and showcasing video footage, states an official release. With the introduction of customisable video walls, automatically generated popular content channels, and a My Playlist feature, blinkx gives users a fun way to interact with online video, customize their own channels, and have more control in how they explore rich media on the web.

MUMBAI: Tagged “From Bandwidth to Brandwidth”, the Casbaa Convention 2006, to be held from 24 to 27 October, is poised to shed light on using advancements in digital technologies to maximise the value of newly-available communications bandwidth for sophisticated brand development, innovative marketing and premium content.

“Broadband and the multimedia revolution present immense opportunities for pay-TV platform operators, content providers and telcos of all types in Asia,” remarked Marcel Fenez, chairman of the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (Casbaa).

As Asia‘s foremost broadcast industry event of the year, the Convention opens on 24 October with the Casbaa Technology Showcase 2006, focussing on the products and technical solutions revolutionising the world of pay-TV. This day-long session will feature presentations from the developers of global wireless, high definition, broadband and interactive technologies, states an official release.

With regulation a crucial element for the broadcast industry, Kip Meek, Senior Partner for Competition & Content, OFCOM (UK) and Chairman of the European Regulators Group, will consider the need for regulatory supervision and effective governance and cast light on the relevance of a converged regulatory model to Asia. Meek will explore challenges and opportunities arising from the emergence of new media, technological innovations and the increasingly blurred distinction between carriers and content providers.

The following day, 26 October, Charlie Ergen, Co-founder & CEO, EchoStar Communications (US), will present delegates with the realities of operating one of the world’s most advanced Direct-to-Home satellite TV services and look at market opportunities in Asia Pacific, including how industry players can focus on ‘brandwidth’ rather than ‘bandwidth’ in their business operations today.

On the final day of the convention, 27 October, Irwin Gotlieb, Global CEO of WPP’s Group M in New York, will discuss the future of advertising and of media in the changing landscape, providing insights into effective strategies and tactics for pay-TV operators.

“This year’s programme will offer delegates fresh perspectives on branding and the opportunities it provides in this new paradigm of abundant bandwidth and technological advancements. To make immediate and enormous strides towards becoming a digital leader, domestic markets should operate in sync with the rest of the world and gain the full benefit of a global marketplace,” said Simon Twiston Davies, CEO of Casbaa. “Regulators will see the benefits of loosening restraints on industry growth, while industry players will gain insights into the latest business and technology trends as well as the hot issues of today.”

The Casbaa Convention 2006 will be held at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts from 24 to 27 October, and is presented by InvestHK, with Star TV and now TV as the official partners.

According to the minister, regulatory framework related to tariff, transmission and other issues have been finalized and notified by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for smooth and successful roll out of the CAS by the stipulated date of 31 December 2006.

The committee was informed that the ministry would hold a month long campaign before the enforcement of CAS for enhancing consumer awareness.

Multi Service Operators and cable operators had to finalize their rate structure by 10 October, 2006 and inter-connect agreements have to be in place by 15 October, the minister informed the parliamentary panel.

The members of the panel were unanimous in suggesting that consumer interest should be “protected at all cost”.

Giving details of the measures already taken by TRAI and the regulatory framework for the purpose, the members were assured by Dasmunsi of all possible steps to ensure that consumers do not suffer in any way.

Those who attended the meeting included Kirip Chaliha, S. Mallikarjunaiah, Hannan Mollah, Mahendra Prasad Nishad, Bhartruhari Mahtab, Ramdas Athawale, Vijay J. Darda, Ajay Maroo, Shatrughan Sinha, Dara Singh, Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya, Ms Usha Verma, Ms Nirmala Deshpande and senior officials from the I&B ministry and Trai.

BANGALORE: Aircel Business Solutions (ABS), part of Aircel, has launched wireless Internet services through Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access — popularly known as the WiMAX technology — which enables ‘last mile‘ connectivity using ‘near line of site‘ (NLOS) wireless equipment.

By doing so, ABS becomes the first company in India to launch WiMAX and one among the five global operators to achieve this feat.

“Initially, ABS aims to make Chennai ‘wire free‘ using WiMAX technology enabling wireless Internet connectivity for SME, enterprise and residential use,” says Aircel Business Solutions SVP Ram Shinde, while announcing the launch. “ABS is also positive about the commercial viability and acceptance of WiMAX across varied user profiles and geographies considering the substantial growth rate of Internet subscribers in recent times” he added.

ABS has also deployed WiMAX Networks beyond Chennai with limited coverage in many other prominent Indian cities such as Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi, Cochin and Ahmedabad and would extend its pan-city coverage in a phased manner. Apart from these, ABS also plans to WiMAX another 26 cities in the near future, the release adds.

With WiMAX, end users can have Internet accessibility based on portable technologies at an affordable price. WiMAX is unaffected by environmental or climatic disturbances and provides relief to organizations from ‘last mile‘ connectivity concerns both in urban and rural areas with limited network infrastructure.

The backend systems and processes (OSS / BSS) of ABS are highly sophisticated with end-to-end manageability from Sales Prospecting to Order Management and Internet Protocol (IP) Provisioning. All these systems are developed in-house and have the capability to accommodate future business requirements of ABS, the release adds.

ABS is also identifying and deploying Wi-Fi ‘hotspots‘ throughout the Chennai city with indoor and outdoor points backhauled with WiMAX. Internet services at these ‘hotspots‘ will be enabled through pre-paid cards integrated with Payment Gateways for on-line registration and subsequently activated using the ‘Authentication, Authorization & Accounting‘ (AAA) mechanism.

NEW DELHI: Indian broadcast regulator today came out with more details on quality of service (QoS) to be observed by MSOs and local cable operators in CAS-notified areas.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has said the reporting (in the prescribed format) of QoS by approved MSOs and local cable ops shall be done on or before the expiry of 15 days from the end of the quarters and shall pertain to the
quarters ending with 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December of each calendar year.

Further, in the case of Chennai, the first reporting shall be for the quarter ending December 2006 and in case of notified areas of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, it shall be for the quarter ending 31 March, 2007.

Trai had issued Regulation specifying standards of Quality of Service to be observed by the MSOs and cable operators in CAS notified areas of Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata on 23 August 2006.

This regulation provided that Trai, for the purpose of monitoring, can prescribe formats and demand reports from service providers on observance of QoS standards.

Further, in MSOs who are permitted to provide cable service in CAS notified areas under the Cable Amendment Rules of 2006 would be obliged to maintain quality of standards as may be determined by the regulator.

A full text of the general directive is available on the regulator’s website

MUMBAI: Google Inc. has agreed to acquire YouTube, the consumer media company for people to watch and share original videos through a Web experience, for $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction. Following the acquisition, YouTube will operate independently to preserve its successful brand and passionate community.

The acquisition combines one of the largest and fastest growing online video entertainment communities with Google‘s expertise in organizing information and creating new models for advertising on the Internet. The combined companies will focus on providing a better, more comprehensive experience for users interested in uploading, watching and sharing videos, and will offer new opportunities for professional content owners to distribute their work to reach a vast new audience, states an official release.

“The YouTube team has built an exciting and powerful media platform that complements Google‘s mission to organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” says Google CEO Eric Schmid. “Our companies share similar values; we both always put our users first and are committed to innovating to improve their experience. Together, we are natural partners to offer a compelling media entertainment service to users, content owners and advertisers.”

“Our community has played a vital role in changing the way that people consume media, creating a new clip culture. By joining forces with Google, we can benefit from its global reach and technology leadership to deliver a more comprehensive entertainment experience for our users and to create new opportunities for our partners,” says YouTube CEO & co-founder Chad Hurley. “I‘m confident that with this partnership we‘ll have the flexibility and resources needed to pursue our goal of building the next-generation platform for serving media worldwide.”

When the acquisition is complete, YouTube will retain its distinct brand identity, strengthening and complementing Google‘s own fast-growing video business. YouTube will continue to be based in San Bruno, CA, and all YouTube employees will remain with the company. With Google‘s technology, advertiser relationships and global reach, YouTube will continue to build on its success as one of the world‘s most popular services for video entertainment, the release adds.

The number of Google shares to be issued in the transaction will be determined based on the 30-day average closing price two trading days prior to the completion of the acquisition. Both companies have approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006.

MUMBAI: In a bid to garner international subscription revenues and also expand its footprint in UK and Europe, SaharaOne Media and Entertainment has 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.

SaharaOne Media and Entertainment CEO Shantonu Aditya says, “Through the association with GloboSat Entertainment, we are looking forward to the expansion of our channels in newer markets through this partnership so as to entertain our viewers worldwide.”

The company is also eyeing broadband as well as mobile platforms in the US. GloboSat Entertainment is said to be in talks with a couple of moblie companies in this regard.

One such company that the GloboSat is talking to for carrying the two Sahara channels (Sahara One and Filmy) is US based made for mobile company Ithentic.

The channels will soon be on JumpTV, the subscription-based broadcaster of ethnic television over the internet. JumpTV already streams other Indian channels SET, India TV News, Kairali TV, People TV and Amrita TV.

GloboSat president and CEO Sudhir Vaishnav says, “Our strategic partnerships with DTH, cable, broadband, IPTV, mobile and other platforms spanning across North and South America, Europe and UK help our broadcast partners to build international presence faster.”

The media company will soon launch the channels SaharaOne and Filmy in UK and Europe. The two channels will soon be visible in Bangladesh as well. The channels will also be accessible on Rogers Cable in Canada.

The general entertainment channel SaharaOne already has its presence in US on Echostar. And the movie channel Filmy is offered on DirecTV, the other DTH platform in US controlled by Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corp.

The two channels have recently been launched in Nepal and Maldives. The company now plans to push SaharaOne in the Middle-East, where the movie channel has already made its entry via the Pehla platform.

The company is also targeting to push the two channels in Africa as well as in Australia in due course.

MUMBAI: Britain‘s media regulatory body Ofcom has published its Communications Market: Digital Television Progress Report for the second quarter of 2006 (April-June).

The report shows that by the end of June 2006 70.2 per cent of UK television households (17.7 million) were watching digital television on at least one set in the home – up from 69.7 per cent at the end March this year.

The report also reveals that the large majority of digital television receivers are now being bought for use on additional television sets within the home to complement digital viewing on the household’s primary television. The number of secondary television sets (for example, those used in a spare room or a child’s bedroom) viewed using digital receivers has more than doubled in the year to June 2006, from just under 3.5 million to over seven million.

In total, more than 40 per cent of television sets in the UK are either connected to a digital set-top-box or have an integrated digital tuner demonstrating that a substantial number of households are now going fully digital.

Key trends for the second quarter of 2006 include:

Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) – Freeview services

The three months to the end of June 2006 was the fourth consecutive quarter in which sales of DTT equipment (either set-top-boxes or televisions with built-in DTT tuners) exceeded the million mark. DTT sales, at 1.2 million for the quarter, were up more than 70 per cent on the same period in 2005.

DTT services are now viewed on 19.4 per cent of the UK’s 60 million television sets, compared to 17.6 per cent in the previous quarter.

The number of households viewing DTT services on their primary television set now stands at 6.4 million up 0.2 per cent since the first qyarter of 2006. The number of secondary sets used to watch DTT services has more than doubled in the past year and now stands at more than five million.

Digital satellite television remains the most popular digital television platform on primary television sets in UK households. In total 33.4 per cent of UK television homes either subscribe to BSkyB’s television services or receive free-to-view satellite services.

In the year to June 2006 satellite television accounted for around one quarter of net digital household additions. In the second quarter of 2006, of the 168,000 homes viewing digital services for the first time on their primary television sets, 64 per cent chose to do so via digital satellite television.

The total number of Sky Multiroom subscribers (a subscription service which allows viewing on multiple sets in the home) broke through the one million mark in the second quarter of 2006 and the number of Sky+ subscribers stood at more than 1.5 million.

Cable Television– NTL:Telewest services plus others

An additional 50,000 households began subscribing to digital cable television in Q2 2006; the majority of those switched from legacy analogue cable television services. There are now over 2.8m digital cable television subscribers, representing 11.3% of all television households compared to 10.4% a year previously.

Around 86 per cent of all cable television subscribers now view digital television services (with 14 per cent remaining on legacy analogue systems), up from 84 per cent in the previous quarter. When analogue cable subscribers are also taken into account, the total number of cable television subscribers stood at 3.3 million (13.1 per cent of all television homes) in the second quarter of 2006.

MUMBAI: Measat Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd.has appointed Vishal Mathur as South Asia sales director. In this role, Vishal will be responsible for building and supporting Measat’s customer base across the South Asian region.|

Prior to joining Measat, Vishal worked with Zee Telefilms as AVP. At Zee Telefims, he managed the sales and marketing portfolio for the Asia Pacific market.

MUMBAI: Former US Vice President Al Gore has unveiled plans to launch a UK version of his ‘user generated‘ network, Current TV.

Current has signed an agreement with UK pay TV platform BSkyB to launch a localised version of its viewer-created TV channel in the UK and Ireland.

The announcement was jointly made by Current chairman Al Gore and BSkyB CEO James Murdoch. The agreement provides Current’s first presence outside the US and marks a step in fulfilling its plans of becoming an international media company, while for BSkyB it represents a first step in a strategy to develop a broader presence in the fast-growing field of user-generated content.

Current TV is the first TV network created by, for, and with a young adult audience, enlisting its audience as creative partners. To tailor its output to the local audience, Current plans to deliver a channel specifically designed for the British and Irish markets.

Viewer producers from the UK and Ireland will be able to submit their video segments via Current’s website and, if their work is selected for broadcast, they will also have a chance to have their pieces air on Current’s U.S. network and in other markets into which Current will expand in the future.

Since its launch in August 2005, Current TV claims to have been a pioneer in the world of user-generated content, with its ‘viewer created content‘ or VC2, programming model. Rather than a traditional network with primetime shows and “appointment television,” Current offers short-form, nonfiction programming, called “pods,” which are only a few minutes long and which explore the issues of interest to young adults, including technology, fashion, music and videogames, the environment, relationships, spirituality, politics, finance, and parenting. In the US, approximately 30 per cent of the network’s content is created by viewers.

The agreement will allow Current TV to reach up to 22 million more viewers in 8.2 million households subscribing to BSkyB’s Sky digital service, equivalent to almost one in three households in the UK and Ireland. Over the past year Current has expanded its US carriage by 70 per cent from 17 million to nearly 30 million homes.

Gore says, “We are grateful to be working with BSkyB in our first international venture. This is a big step in fulfilling Current’s mission of sparking a global conversation among young adults. Bringing our viewer-created content model to the UK and Ireland will give millions of young viewers the opportunity to not only watch but also to create television programming that is relevant to them. We’re excited about being able to unleash the creativity of young people in the UK and Ireland, enabling them to share their stories with their generational cohort here and around the world.”

Murdoch says, “Current TV is bringing the web’s sense of empowerment to television for the first time. It has a uniquely collaborative approach to working with viewer producers that stands out among other platforms for user-generated video. As a first step towards Sky’s own moves in this fascinating field, we’re pleased to help give a voice to millions of young people throughout the UK and Ireland.”

Murdoch incidentally was one of the first to back Mr Gore‘s campaign to persuade big business to face up to green issues. He said the partnership with Current TV was the first step towards the broadcaster, which will make it available free to all its 8.2 million subscribers, launching other user-content initiatives.

Internet networking sites such as MySpace and video sharing services such as YouTube and Google Video have forced broadcasters to learn from them. Political parties have also tried to get in on the act, as with the WebCameron Tory initiative