Category: Software

MUMBAI: UK pay TV service provider BSkyB has launched free broadband for Sky customers. The company says that the launch sets new standards in quality, ease and savings.

Unveiling its new broadband internet access service, Sky Broadband, at an event for analysts and investors the Company disclosed some information:

Operating and Financial outlook
• Pay-TV business on track to achieve 2010 targets
• Clear strategy to build a scale broadband customer base, targeting revenues from high growth opportunities in online advertising, search and content and increasing penetration of additional products
• Anticipated investment of ?400 million of EBIT to be invested over the next three years
• Broadband expected to be earnings enhancing in the year to 30 June 2010 independent of any Pay-TV benefits
• Capital expenditure of approximately ?250 million in first two years
• Targetting broadband ROCE of 15 per cent for the year ended 2011 including initial cost of Easynet acquisition
• Progressive dividend policy to be maintained across investment phase.

BSkyB CEO James Murdoch said, “Sky Broadband is a compelling product which rewards our 8 million customers with a quality service offering flexibility and great value. Sky is ideally equipped to enter the large and growing markets of broadband and telephony and by pushing the boundaries of the home entertainment market, we will help our customers realise the full potential from technological convergence.

“The business case is clear; we believe our investment will enhance top-line growth, be earnings enhancing from 2010 and with the benefits of scale, deliver increasingly attractive returns thereafter whilst offering substantial savings and compelling value to customers. This is a transformational new initiative for Sky.”

MUMBAI: The direct-to-home Dish TV has added Walt Disney movies to its movie-on-demand (Mod) offering besides providing Bollywood movies.

For this, DishTV has entered into an agreement with the international television distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company -Buena Vista International Television-Asia Pacific (BVITV-AP) to air the latest blockbuster movies on its value added service.

Subscribers of the Mod pay-per-view service will have access to a slate of box office hit features from Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Miramax and Jerry Bruckheimer Films including The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Disney‘s highest grossing film to date, Casanova, Cinderella Man, Herbie: Fully Loaded, Dark Water, and Flight Plan, informs an official release.

Speaking about the tie-up, Dish TV CEO Sunil Khanna said, “Strategic alliances of this magnitude and nature are very important for any operator in any market. We are happy to tie up with BVITV at a juncture when the Mod services for Hindi movies has already been launched and now Dish TV is all set to launch the same service for English movies as well. With this move, we will be able to offer this service to more than 1.2 million subscribers of Dish TV spread across the country”.

The movie can be ordered through SMS, phone or by logging on to www.dishtvindia.in. The consumer can watch the movie for 24 hours at his/her own convenience at a cost of Rs. 50 per movie.

MUMBAI: French space agency Cnes, telecom firm Orange France, and communications solutions provider Alcatel have announced the selection of Toulouse and the Midi-Pyrenees Region in France for the first trial of a system that is central to Alcatel’s “Unlimited Mobile TV” solution.

This trail was outside the laboratories of the main technical characteristics of the new mobile broadcasting solution over a hybrid satellite and terrestrial transmission system using S-band. It is preliminary to the research and development efforts for the terrestrial aspects of the project, made possible with support from the French Industrial Innovation Agency.

The Cnes financed and oversaw the design and deployment of the demonstrator, set the trial schedule, and is leading the trial; Orange, the leader in mobile broadcasting, is providing terrestrial repeater sites and contributing its expertise for analyzing results; Alcatel is conducting all trial measurements and preparing the result analysis; in addition, Eutelsat and SES Astra are supplying the satellite resources needed for feeding terrestrial repeaters.

The trial was initially scheduled to continue through September 2006. Based on initial results, it has been decided to extend the technical trial through the end of 2006. As part of this extended trial period, Eutelsat will partner with Cnes, Orange France, and Alcatel in order to pursue the validation of the technical choices of the hybrid satellite and terrestrial broadcasting system to provide S-band services.

Mobile Television Forum president Janine Langlois-Glandier says, “The Mobile Television Forum recently declared its support for the adoption of standards which are widely approved in Europe and which guarantee interoperability, such as the DVB-H standard and its evolution in the S-band. We are pleased that a trial using the S-band solution will be conducted in Toulouse by Cnes with Orange France and Alcatel, because we believe that this solution will assure consistency that will be beneficial for France and Europe as a whole.”

The trial is part of permanent ongoing projects being conducted by Cnes on space applications for the consumer market, and part of continuing preparatory work being conducted jointly by Cnes and Alcatel on architectural concepts and the feasibility of a variety of technical alternatives for a hybrid satellite and terrestrial system for mobile broadcasting.

The purpose of this trial is to provide a technical assessment, to supplement ongoing laboratory work, of certain key parameters of hybrid satellite and terrestrial S-band broadcasting, such as the impact of wave form on transmission quality, link budget, antenna diversity, error-correcting codes, and frequency sharing for satellite and terrestrial elements of the solution.

The demonstrator includes all elements of the proposed solution. The satellite is simulated using an S-band transmitter on board a helicopter at high altitude. The system is completed by terrestrial repeaters installed in ten or so locations belonging to Orange France, the mobile telecommunications operator, alongside its GSM and UMTS service transmitters. Lastly, a test terminal and instruments on board a vehicle are used to measure and record the signal in real time.

The demonstrator covers southeastern Toulouse and the suburbs, from downtown to Castanet Tolosan and St Orens, including the Canal Technology Park and Rangueil. The tests will also be conducted outside of Toulouse and its suburbs, in order to evaluate reception conditions in population centers of variable size, simulating complete coverage within mainland France

MUMBAI: National Geographic in the US has created a music initiative that offers consumers the soundtrack to the world, from traditional roots music to unexpected hybrids from the furthest reaches of the globe.

National Geographic World Music (worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com) showcases international artists and musical performances in an interactive and immersive online environment.

In supporting National Geographic’s (NGC) core aim of inspiring people to care about the planet, the site uses the language of music as a medium to tell the stories of the world.

From Morocco to Indonesia, New Zealand to Sweden, Cuba to the US and Senegal, National Geographic World Music offers fans the chance to discover music by different artists, regions and genres. The site also provides rich context for music through NGC‘s assets that include videos, maps, photos and features from its magazines, and other editorial platforms. Searches are enabled via artist, genre, country and region.

Featured artists include:

– Tinariwen: These Malian guitar-slingers are former Tuareg rebels who put down their guns, picked up guitars and changed the face of African rock ’n’ roll.

– Sidestepper: This Anglo-Colombian collaboration is a mash-up of 21st-century salsa, cumbia, vallenato and drum ’n’ bass, direct from the developing world.

– Seu Jorge: This Brazilian crooner made waves when he gave David Bowie classics a smooth, samba makeover.

Musician David Beal has been working on the launch of National Geographic World Music for the past year. He says, “People come to National Geographic to read books and magazines, to watch films and television, to shop and to explore nationalgeographic.com, but they’ve never truly had a pure listening experience, until now.

“By exposing these incredible artists to the National Geographic audience, they’ll hopefully begin to find a larger audience and receive the recognition they deserve.”

National Geographic World Music is programmed by music experts under the supervision of Tom Pryor, former editor of Global Rhythm magazine. The Web site will feature the best artists, innovative music and emerging trends worldwide, allowing users a comprehensive experience. It will also feature guest DJs and their recommended play lists. With partner Calabash, National Geographic World Music makes thousands of tracks available for discovery as well as for purchase at 99 cents per MP3 download. Other strategic partners include LinkTV for video, and Afropop Worldwide and Global Rhythm for editorial and curatorial content.

National Geographic digital media VP, content development and operations Betsy Scolnik says, “World music is a natural extension of nationalgeographic.com’s rich multimedia experience that entertains, informs and engages consumers who are as passionate about the world’s cultures and the environment as we are. World music fans around the world will be able to listen and learn in one digital experience.”

MUMBAI:There seems to be no end to the thrust and parry going on over the DTH airwaves. Close on the heels of Dish TV wresting a favourable decision against Star India, Tata Sky has moved the Telecom Disputes Settlement And Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) — against what it terms as Zee‘s exhorbitatnt terms for providing its network channels to its still-in-the-pipeline DTH service
 
The petition by Tata Sky before the appellate tribunal makes Zee Turner Ltd, Zee Telefilms Ltd,Turner International India and Dish‘s managing company ASC Enterprises LTD as party to the case.

The Tata Sky petition alleges that the Zee Group has denied supply of Zee Turner bouquet of channels to the former‘s yet-to-be-launched DTH service under reasonable terms.

The petitioner has sought “to obtain appropriate direction for the signals of the channels,” alleging that respondent Zee Turner has quoted unreasonable terms for supply of its signals to Tata Sky.

Contacted by Indiantelevision.com, a senior executive at Dish TV today refrained from commenting on the issue, saying, “We have yet not received any direction from TDSAT.”

The disputes tribunal has given the respondents three days from the day they receive an official intimation to file its replies.The next date of hearing is 25 July 2006.

As per regulatory norms, all content should be made available to all delivery platforms on a non-discriminatory basis.

Last week, the tribunal had delivered a verdict laying down benchmark rate for channel prices for DTH platforms, while directing Star to make available its channels to Dish TV.

Main respondent Zee Turner is a 74:26 distribution joint venture between Zee Telefilms and Time Warner company Turner International India.

The cable pricing of the two Zee-Turner bouquets is Rs 83.65 plus service tax. Zee-Turner‘s bouquet one comprises Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Zee Movies, Zee English, CNN, Cartoon Network, CNBC, Trendz, Reality TV, Zee Marathi, Zee Punjabi, Zee Bangla and Zee Gujarati and is priced at Rs 58.85 per subscriber/per month. The second bouquet carries HBO, Vh1, Pogo, Zee Business and Awaaz, which is available at Rs 25 per subscriber/per month.

Tata Sky‘s complaint before TDSAT is that Zee is seeking the same pricing terms for supplying its channels to its DTH service as is its cable rates.

In what manner TDSAT responds to the Tata Sky complaint will be watched with close interest. After all, in its earlier order in favour of Dish TV, TDSAT, while directing the sector regulator to set a benchmark for channel prices for DTH services, said that Star channels should be made available to Dish TV at half the price at which they are available to cable operators.

The tribunal‘s reasoning in the earlier case was that DTH is an addressable system where loss of revenue down the value chain is negligible, if not zero.

Also Read:
TDSAT to Star: give channels to Dish TV

Dish moves TDSAT against Star

TDSAT puts a lock on any DTH operator carrying Star channels

Tdsat rules in favour of Dish TV; MTV has one month to get onto DTH platform

MUMBAI: Mainland China exports of CCTV (closed-circuit TV) digital video recorders are expected to reach US$139 million in 2006, up 70 per cent from last year.

A new report released, “China Sourcing Report CCTV Digital Video Recorders,” indicates that buyers sourcing CCTV digital video recorders from Greater China and South Korea can expect increased supply and lower price quotes in the coming months. These findings are based on in-depth manufacturer interviews, factory visits and surveys, states an official release.
 
Report publisher Mark Saunderson says, “The worldwide security boom has makers expanding production capacity and predicting big export increases this year – some larger makers are even setting up overseas offices to sell own-brand products.”

Among surveyed manufacturers:

– 29 per cent say exports will increase by more than 100 per cent;
– 17 per cent expect increases of between 50 and 100 per cent;
– 52 per cent foresee increases of up to 50 per cent and;
– 2 per cent expect a decrease in exports.

Manufacturers forecast huge capacity growth, price declines for CCTV DVRs.  Buyers can expect greater supply, with 100 per cent of surveyed Greater China and South Korea manufacturers of CCTV digital video recorders planning to increase production capacity:

– 40 per cent of suppliers plan to increase capacity by 100 per cent or more;
– 7 per cent plan increases of between 50 and 100 per cent and;
– 53 per cent plan to increase capacity by up to 50 per cent.

Manufacturers cited fierce competition as a key factor in their expectations of lower prices in the coming year. More than half of surveyed makers project declines:

– 62 per cent say prices will likely decline in the next 12 months;
– 25 per cent foresee stable prices and;
– 13 per cent expect price increases.

The 122-page “China Sourcing Report CCTV Digital Video Recorders” report includes detailed profiles of 47 Greater China and South Korea manufacturers and features a product gallery with 126 top-selling export models. It also includes production and pricing forecasts as well as in-depth reports on major supply centers, adds the release.

MUMBAI: China Digital Media Corporation, a provider of cable and digital television services and content in China, has announced that it has reached a record level of households that have installed digital set-top-boxes (STB). As of 30 June 2006, approximately 200,000 subscribers had installed over 220,000 digital STBs, with over 15 per cent subscribing for additional digital STBs, according to a media release issued.

The company receives a portion of the subscription fees from each customer. It installed over 30,000 STBs in May 2006, the highest number of installations in a single month, and these newly installed STBs are equipped with Java platform and Ethernet port, the release adds.

“This is a major milestone for the company, as it represents a significant source of revenue,” says China Digital Media Corporation chairman and CEO Daniel Ng. “The launch of our new IP based STB has generated incredible interest in Nanhai and surrounding cities. We intend to focus on promoting our value added services and pay TV services, and searching for new projects elsewhere that we believe will enhance revenue growth.”

MUMBAI: KickApps has released a hosted community solution that invites any website to quickly and easily deploy user-generated video and social networking functionality directly on their Web pages.

KickApps says that it provides a highly customised, enterprise-quality platform intended to serve all websites, including major media brands like reality television shows, cable channels, talk shows, magazines, newspapers, and sports teams.

KickApps addresses the needs of webmasters looking to provide their visitors with all the functionality typically found at leading Web 2.0 portals like MySpace, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook. It also provides webmasters with a set of sophisticated media management, reporting and administrative tools designed to protect websites from pornography, copyrighted material and user content that may hurt their brands or offend advertisers.

KickApps founder and CEO Eric Alterman says, “By powering brands with community-building functionality at many diverse websites we are helping those brands aggregate audiences within specific contexts. We believe context is the next major driver for Web 2.0 traffic and for advertisers looking for a safe, effective way to promote their brands to identifiable communities with known demographics.”

KickApps provides webmasters with a suite of technologies that deploy instantly with a cut-and-paste “widget” implementation. Visitors to websites powered by KickApps can upload videos, photos and audio files, create their own personal pages, invite friends, and create instant video blogs. Webmasters are empowered with a sophisticated Affiliate Center environment that allows them to quickly create a highly customized user experience complete with a robust set of media management tools.

Spark Capital co-founder Santo Politi says, “High-traffic media and content websites need competitive user-generated content and social networking functionality. But they also require the kind of administrative tools necessary to protect their brand. KickApps is well ahead of the market in providing webmasters with the features and controls required to deploy an effective community platform.”

KickApps says that it fully embraces the concept of widgets in the form of Flash-based objects that contain video and other media aggregated by affiliate websites. Visitors to websites powered by KickApps can ‘steal‘ these widgets and place them on their own social networking personal pages.

Widgets can contain both user-generated video and premium video uploaded by affiliate webmasters, and all widgets link back to affiliate websites in a highly viral fashion.

Alterman adds, “While KickApps enables the usual features found on most user-generated content websites our widget-based platform is designed to create a far more dynamic and viral media experience. Our affiliates will have thousands of content widgets positioned all over the Internet, all linking back to their websites. Widgets take content syndication to a whole new level.

The company will announce a number of customer deployments over the coming weeks.

MUMBAI: Global mobile media specialist Mobile Streams has acquired the mobile entertainment group Mobilemode.

Founded in 1999, Mobilemode delivers mobile entertainment content and services to mobile phone operators and portals in the Asia Pacific region.

The acquisition of Mobilemode will give Mobile Streams a comprehensive position in Asia Pacific, with a particularly strong focus on Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. In addition, the acquisition will offer Mobile Streams the immediate benefit of Mobilemode’s experienced management team, and their strong relationships with portals and mobile network operators.

Mobilemode’s key network operator customers are SingTel-Optus, Virgin Mobile and Hutchison 3G in Australia, SingTel and M1 in Singapore and Maxis and Astro in Malaysia. Mobilemode also has strong distribution relationships with eBay, Electronic Arts, Nokia and Discovery Networks, an affiliate of Liberty Media, Mobile Streams’ strategic investor.

Mobilemode’s management team has worked in Asia for many years and will be invaluable in supplementing Mobile Streams’ existing business in the region. The two founding members of Mobilemode, its CEO Jarno Salmivuori and and VP business development Norma Salmivuori will assume management positions within Mobile Streams’ Asia Pacific business unit.

For the year to 31 March 2006, Mobilemode recorded turnover of €1.1m and profit before tax of approximately €48,000.

Mobile Streams CEO Simon Buckingham said, “This acquisition represents a key milestone in the development of Mobile Streams’ global footprint. Mobilemode will provide us with an excellent stepping stone into the advanced markets of Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore whilst at the same time providing a platform for growth in the emerging markets of Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines.”

Jarno Salmivuori said, “Mobilemode has established strong relationships and operations in Asia which we look forward to developing and growing further through the combination with Mobile Streams”

MUMBAI: Nielsen//NetRatings, which works in the field of Internet media and market research has announced that 6.6 per cent of America‘s adult online population, or 9.2 million Web users, have recently downloaded an audio podcast.

Four per cent, or 5.6 million Web users, have recently downloaded a video podcast. These figures put the podcasting population on a par with those who publish blogs, 4.8 per cent, and online daters, 3.9 per cent. However, podcasting is not yet nearly as popular as viewing and paying bills online, 51.6 per cent, or online job hunting, 24.6 per cent.

For the uninitiated podcasting is a relatively new technology that enables users to quickly and easily download multimedia files, including audio and video, for playback on mobile devices including iPods and other MP3 players, as well as cell phones.

Nielsen//NetRatings analyst Michael Lanz says, “The portability of podcasts makes them especially appealing to young on-the-go audiences. We can expect to see podcasting become increasingly popular as portable content media players proliferate”.

As is often typical with new technologies, young people are more likely than their older counterparts to engage in audio or video podcasting. Web users between the ages 18 and 24 are nearly twice as likely as the average Web user to download audio podcasts, followed by users in the 25-34 and 35-44 age groups, who were also more likely than the average Web user to do audio podcasting.

Video podcasters showed 25-34 year olds indexing the highest. Web users above the age of 45 were less likely than average to engage in podcasting of either sort. Since the popularity of Apple‘s iPod is largely responsible for the spread of podcasting, not surprisingly podcasters enjoy using Apple products and visiting Apple Web sites. For example, audio and video podcasters are over three times as likely as the average Web user to use Apple‘s Safari as their primary Internet browser.

Among audio podcasters, Macworld is the most-visited content site, with a composition index of 606 (see Table 4). Apple and iTunes are the No. 2 and 3 e-commerce sites visited by audio podcasters, with composition indexes of 455 and 396, respectively. The Apple connection is not as clear for video podcasters, who flock to Startrek.com among content
sites, with an index of 864. Live365.com and eMusic are the two most popular e-commerce sites for video podcasters, with indexes of 730 and 656, respectively.

Lanz adds, “Competitors to the iPod are now in the marketplace, but Apple got a big head start. It will take time before other portable media players make significant in-roads with the early-adopters who are currently podcasting”.