Category: Software

MUMBAI: Subhash Chandra’s DTH service Dish TV has upped the ante by invoking government help in getting those TV channels on board who have refused to do so till now.

Dish TV’s wrath has been particularly directed at MTV and Nick with which the former has been fighting a legal battle since last year.

In a letter to the information and broadcasting ministry, Dish TV has petitioned that despite sector regulator’s directive on making available content to all platforms and a favourable judgement from disputes tribunal TDSAT, the “conduct of MTV” has been “clearly in violation” of the interconnection regulation of 2004.

Dish TV’s parent ASC Enterprises has contended despite carrying on commercial negotiations with MTV Networks India for several months, the content provider and its distributors in India (One Alliance) have stalled any fruitful conclusion of such talks.

The Dish TV letter to the government states, “We would request you to take cognizance of the consistent refusal of MTV Networks to provide the channels, MTV and Nick, on our DTH platform and non-compliance of the interconnect regulation of Trai (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)
and the order of TDSAT before the registration certificate for downlinking of (the) channels is granted to the broadcaster.”

The government while acknowledging the letter from Dish said it hasn’t taken a view on the issue yet.

In a related development, an executive of Dish TV said it will be “placing the execution appeal” at the TDSAT within few days.

Contacted by Indiantelevision.com, MTV senior vice-president, network development South Asia (licensing and merchandising) Sanjeev Hiremath, refused to comment saying the matter relating to Dish TV was subjudice.

A spokesperson for Discovery-Sony joint venture One Alliance today said that negotiations with Dish TV have been continuing fruitfully and are “likely to be concluded in a few days time.”

ASC Enterprises, the DTH licence holder for Dish TV, had moved TDSAT in 2005 against MTV’s refusal to provide its channels for the DTH platform.

Early this year, TDSAT directed MTV to make available its channels to Dish TV on a commercial basis within 30 days by 10 March, 2006.

MTV Networks appealed against the TDSAT order in the Supreme Court, which admitted the appeal, but did not stay the disputes tribunal’s order.

During the last hearing on 9 May, the apex court said the case would be taken up again on 12 July after the summer recess.

Dish TV has also moved the TDSAT against Star India on similar grounds of noncompliance of interconnect regulations.

MUMBAI: A Digital Cinema Show is being organised by Saicom Trade Fairs & Exhibitions from 26 May to 28 May at Nehru Centre, Worli, Mumbai from 11 am to 7.00 pm. The show consists of an exhibition, conferences and film screenings.

The show as well as the conference will have exhibits and speakers from all over the world and India and is sponsored by JVC and Panasonic of Japan, Quantel and Western Digital of UK, Digital Film Systems of Ireland and AGIV India, states an official release.

The purpose behind the event is to make the producers, directors and technicians of the film industry aware of the digital technology and the method of making films from script to screen using this latest trend. It is a free entry show for the technicians as well as producers and directors of the film and television industry, adds the release.

There are at least two dozen films being made in India using high definition digital format out of which 16 are being made in Mumbai itself and rest of them in Hyderabad and Chennai.

MUMBAI: The Indian cricket board may be making noises about launching its own television channel but it is its British counterpart that has gone ahead and “walked the talk”. The England and Wales Cricket Board today launched its official broadband TV service, ECBtv, coinciding with the start of the first npower Test against Sri Lanka at Lord‘s.

The ECB has signed a three-year deal with digital rights company, Premium TV, to produce the broadband channel – as an addition to ecb.co.uk, according to the board website.

In addition to exclusive interviews, the ECBtv console will stream live video coverage of all home npower Test matches and NatWest one-day internationals to identified territories in Europe, South and Central America, Japan and Africa, which are not covered by current ECB television deals.

ECBtv users can also access live audio commentary on all England‘s home internationals, with BBC Radio‘s Test Match Special being relayed through the channel.

The ECBtv console is a key development for the ECB, which sees broadband as a crucial platform for cricket in England and Wales to build on the popularity enjoyed by the sport during the npower Ashes series in 2005.

The ECB will also be encouraging England players to create their own content for the website.

Also embedded in the ECBtv channel will be a searchable video archive (SVA) that allows fans to view extended highlights of England‘s classic moments on home soil, such as great matches, innings and wickets from as far back as 1970 – meaning classic moments such as Botham‘s Ashes in 1981 can also be included.

Another feature of ECBtv will be the ‘Active Zone‘, where fans will be able watch tutorials on all key aspects of the game from England players past and present, and see video clips of key grassroots initiatives such as NatWest CricketForce 2006.

It will also house ecb.co.uk‘s own multimedia archive of video and audio clips, bringing continuing coverage of all aspects of the game outside of the international arena.

Premium TV will work alongside the ECB‘s broadcast partners to ensure that the online broadcasts are geo-blocked in areas where any conflict with TV broadcast deals exists.

Oliver Slipper, CEO of Premium TV, said: “The ECB signing is yet another example of how PTV can help sports organisations exploit their digital rights by creating a unique service for a very popular platform.

“It also demonstrates how digital rights deals complement rather than compromise TV deals.”

Picture courtesy ecb.co.uk

MUMBAI: Lifestyle and glamour channel Zooms goes interactive. In a unique tie-up with Reliance, Zoom‘s first Glam Awards can be viewed by subscribers of Reliance World.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com on the initiative, Zoom‘s national head, marketing and sales, MK Anand said, “The Glam Awards is a signature event showcasing that glam in India has finally arrived. Interactive Marketing has always been high on Zoom‘s agenda, and the tie-up with Reliance is yet another achievment on that front.

“In the first phase of this tie- up, we had partnered with Reliance for a contest prior to the Glam Awards where subscribers voted for the ‘Best Glam Music Video‘. They could download the full music videos selected in this category and vote for the best video. The winner in this contest was a special invitee to the Glam Awards, held recently in Mumbai. Details of the contest were aired on Zoom. Now, in the second phase, we are sharing content for the ‘Curtain Raiser‘ and the ‘Glam Awards‘ will be telecast on Zoom on 14 May at 9 00 pm.”

Zoom is the first entertainment channel that will now be included in the Reliance Mobile TV bouquet. So far the only channels who have been in the bouquet have been news channels Aaj Tak, NDTV, CNBC and Times Now.

Saying that for Reliance, this was a WAP tie up for its subscribers, Anand adds,”We are essentially targeting the upwardly mobile viewers, the imagery that can be downloaded is targeted to the youth from 15 to 34 years who also constitute our target audience. There is, therefore, a lot of synergy with Reliance.”

“We are redefining the marketing activities by going beyond just print, online and ground initiatives for the Glam Awards. Glamour is also about high technology so this is a step in that direction. The time lag between the airing of the Awards on 14 May and being able to download the special clips it on the cell is just a few minutes,” says Anand.

The first Glam Awards can be viewed by 5 million subscribers of Reliance World. Whether it is Kareena thanking her “best friend‘ on stage or John and Bipasha‘s very evident real life chemistry at the awards – it will now be accessible to the Reliance world customers. Snippets such as memorable moments, terrific performances and acceptance speeches will be content that Reliance users can avail.

The first annual Zoom Glam Awards were held in Mumbai on 30 April.

MUMBAI: For the first quarter of 2006, satellite radio player Worldspace reported revenues of approximately $3.5 million, representing a 35 per cent increase compared with revenues of approximately $2.6 million for the first quarter of 2005.

Subscription revenue doubled to approximately $1.6 million for the first quarter of 2006 compared with subscription revenue of approximately $0.8 million for the first quarter of 2005, the company said in an official release.

Worldspace recorded a net loss for the first quarter of 2006 of $29.2 million, or $0.79 per share, compared with a net loss of $9.2 million, or $0.40 per share for the first quarter of 2005. Sequentially, the net loss improved from the fourth quarter 2005 results of $33.2 million, or $0.90 per share. Worldspace had an EBITDA (earnings before interest income, interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization) loss of $31.2 million for the first quarter of 2006, compared with EBITDA of $1.5 million for the first quarter of 2005, and an EBITDA loss of $44.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2005, the release adds.

The company said it finished the first quarter of 2006 with 153,437 subscribers. The Company added 38,131 subscribers in the first quarter of 2006, an increase of 109 per cent over the 18,233 subscribers added in same quarter of 2005. In India, the Company had 111,723 subscribers at the end of the first quarter of 2006, up 50 per cent from 74,574 at the end of the fourth quarter of 2005 and a five-fold increase from 21,730 at the end of the first quarter of 2005, it said in a release.

At the end of the first quarter of 2006, Worldspace had rolled out its satellite radio services in ten cities in India – Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, and Kolkata. It also signed Indian music impresario AR Rahman as a brand ambassador in India.

Globally, Worldspace introduced three new programming channels, including Fox Sports Radio, and Ranin and Min Zaman, the latter two targeted to listeners in the Middle East, bringing the total number of channels broadcast on Worldspace‘s global system to 223 by the end of the first quarter of 2006.

BANGALORE: Worldspace satellite radio announced that WorldSpace Italia S.p.A. has received approval from the Italian ministry of communications to launch a subscription satellite radio service in Italy.

With this authorization, the ministry has granted WorldSpace Italia the right to provide a subscription-based satellite radio and data service to consumers in Italy, and to use the frequency band 1479.5-1492 MHz for the operation of the corresponding hybrid satellite/terrestrial network.

WorldSpace Italia anticipates launching the satellite digital radio and data service to portable and vehicular devices in 2007, using one satellite already in orbit, and a terrestrial gap-filler network to be rolled out in all major cities throughout Italy.

WorldSpace Italia S.p.A. is a majority-owned subsidiary of Worldspace‘s European holding company, Viatis Satellite Radio. WorldSpace Italia‘s other partner is New Satellite Radio S.r.l., an Italian company whose primary shareholder is Class Editori S.p.A., an Italian financial, media and broadcast corporation based in Milan.

According to an official release, New Satellite Radio, which holds a 35 per cent interest in WorldSpace Italia, has been instrumental in obtaining the Italian regulatory authorization and is expected to play an integral role in operational execution of the service in Italy, including distribution arrangements, such as OEM partnerships, content supply and acquisition and marketing.

WorldSpace Italia intends to start rolling out this complementary network as soon as its installation plan, currently under finalization, is approved by the Ministry. At the service‘s maturity, subscribers in Italy will have access to approximately 50 channels of diversified sports, talk and commercial-free music programming, the release adds.

“We are very pleased to receive these authorizations from the Italian Ministry of Communications for the launch of our service,” says WorldSpace, Inc. chairman & CEO Noah Samara. “We look forward to working closely with our partner, New Satellite Radio S.r.l., to implement our service and establish a new generation of WorldSpace subscribers across Italy. Italy is an attractive market for us. Our research shows it to be one of the two top markets for satellite radio in Europe.”

According to Samara, the strategy has been to roll out a European service on a sequential, country-by-country basis. “Our goal was to obtain our first terrestrial authorization in one country in 2006. We have accomplished this in Italy, which we consider to be the best near-term market for a mobile satellite radio service. We will continue to seek similar approvals in the rest of Europe to achieve our goal of a pan-European satellite radio service.”

“We welcome the opportunity to partner with WorldSpace at this exciting time for satellite radio in Italy,” says CEO and director of New Satellite Radio S.r.L. and board member of Class Editori S.p.A. Luca Panerai. “We are confident that coupling Class Editori‘s extensive Italian media experience and broadcast capabilities with WorldSpace‘s technology and unique platform offerings will provide a first-of-its kind listener experience in Italy. The authorization also paves the way for the Italian car manufacturing industry to be the first in Europe to provide digital satellite radio service.”

Italy‘s population is more than 58 million and nearly two-thirds of these are within the target age demographic for satellite radio service.

MUMBAI: TiVo Inc., the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVR), and the Internet TV service provider Brightcove has inked a deal, which will enable broadband video published through Brightcove to be distributed directly to TiVo subscriber set top boxes.

Under terms of the agreement, the two companies work together over the coming months to add additional partners for the distribution of their broadband video content to TiVo subscribers.

The partnership will provide a method for almost any publisher of broadband video using Brightcove‘s Internet TV services to distribute content to TiVo subscribers. It also opens the possibility of monetizing the distribution through advertising, subscription plans, or pay-per-view. Initially, all content will be offered for free to TiVo subscribers and may carry advertising within the content, informs an official release.

TiVo president and CEO Tom Rogers said, “TiVo has revolutionized television viewing and Brightcove is bringing about major changes in consumer viewing of broadband-delivered video.”

Rogers adds, “Through this new partnership, the process of delivering Internet based video to TiVo users will be significantly facilitated.”

“TiVo has been a powerful factor increasing consumer choice and control over television viewing experiences.TiVo subscribers will gain access to the largest, most powerful content platform ever offered — the Internet. If it‘s on Brightcove, you‘ll be able to watch it on your TV using your TiVo box, ” said Brightcove founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire.

Broadband video content from Brightcove will be made available to any TiVo Series2 DVR connected to the Internet. The TiVo subscribers will be able to discover this content directly in the TiVo Central

MUMBAI: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) is on a shopping spree. The telecommunications giant has bought out the internet business of 7 Star, a major cable network in Mumbai.

The deal gathers significance as it allows VSNL last mile access and offers an expansion route through cable operators. Telecom operators like Reliance Infocomm and Bharti have been eyeing the retail broadband market but been unable to see rapid growth.

Though the acquisition price could not be confirmed, market speculation is that VSNL has paid around Rs 70-80 million. The cable TV operations are outside the deal. 7 Star runs cable TV operations in the western suburbs of Mumbai and offers cable internet through LAN (local area network) connections.

“We have acquired the internet business of the 7 Star group—Sevenstar.com. We cannot disclose further details due to confidentiality reasons. We continuously evaluate options for growing our presence in the internet and broadband space,” confirms a VSNL spokesperson. 7 Star promoters were not willing to comment on the deal.

The cable internet subscribers of 7 Star will be migrated to the Tata Indicom Broadband brand over a period of time. “7 Star will continue to assist us in managing the customers,” says the VSNL spokesperson.

Analysts say VSNL was willing to pay a higher price because 7 Star was almost a monopoly internet player in the area where it was servicing cable TV operations. The stretch included the western belt of Andheri and Santa Cruz in Mumbai.

VSNL has tied up with around 2000 cable operators across the country to overcome the problem of last mile connectivity. VSNL executive director N Srinath had earlier said allying with operators and sharing their network was one of the best options the company had.

For strengthening its broadband presence in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) segment, VSNL on Monday announced it had entered into an agreement to buy out Direct Internet Ltd (DIL) and its wholly owned subsidiary Primus Telecommunications India Ltd (PTIL) for Rs 750 million. While DIL will focus entirely on the SME segment, the retail customers are likely to be rehomed in VSNL. The earlier acquisitions of VSNL included DishnetDSL for Rs 2.7 billion and Tata Power broadband for Rs 2.39 billion which gave it broadband subscribers in the retail as well as the SME segments.

Is VSNL looking at tie ups with cable operators for IPTV service as well? “VSNL currently is providing broadband and content services, in conjunction with cable operators. The company will continue to look at offering various value added services that is of mutual benefit to VSNL and the cable operators,” says the spokesperson. Reliance Infocomm, Bharti and other telecom operators have plans to rollout IPTV but have been unable to resolve the last mile connectivity.

MUMBAI: Qualcomm Incorporated and British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB) today announced that the companies have signed a nonbinding letter of intent to conduct technical trials of Qualcomm‘s MediaFLO technology in the United Kingdom.

Expected to begin during the summer of 2006, the technical trial will feature 10 channels of BSkyB content on a small number of non-commercial devices provided by Qualcomm. The technical trial is intended to allow BSkyB to closely evaluate the performance capabilities of FLO technology, an open, cellular network-agnostic wireless multicasting technology, as it continues to explore the growing number of opportunities to deliver video services to mobile devices in the UK.

FLO technology, a multicast innovation and key component of the MediaFLO system, is an air-interface technology designed to increase capacity and coverage, and reduce cost for multimedia content delivery to mobile handsets.

The BSkyB technical trial is expected to be the first such trial of FLO technology in Europe. In addition to this technical trial, Qualcomm and KDDI have formed a joint venture to explore the deployment of MediaFLO services in Japan. Also, MediaFLO USA, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, is working with Verizon Wireless to deploy wireless multimedia services based on FLO technology in the US.

“BSkyB is committed to offering customers flexible ways to enjoy our services. We have led the way in the delivery of mobile TV over existing platforms and we look forward to working with Qualcomm in this technical trial to evaluate the potential of MediaFLO,” said BSkyB group director of business development Stephen Nuttall.

“As one of Europe‘s largest, most successful and best-known multichannel television platform operators, BSkyB is the ideal company to team up with Qualcomm on our first MediaFLO trial in Europe. We expect this trial to demonstrate a strong validation of the value Qualcomm believes FLO technology offers both in Europe and other markets around the world. The openness of the MediaFLO system, as well as its significant advantages with respect to coverage, power consumption and cost, set MediaFLO apart from other competing technologies,” said Qualcomm Internet Service and MediaFLO Technologies president Peggy Johnson.

Engineered specifically for the mobile environment, FLO technology is intended to offer several advantages over other mobile multicast technologies, including higher-quality video and audio, faster channel switching time, superior mobile reception, optimised power consumption and greater capacity concurrently as compared to other multicast technologies.

In addition, FLO technology-based multimedia multicasting will complement wireless operators‘ CDMA2000(R)/EV-DO and WCDMA/HSDPA cellular voice and data services, delivering content to the same cellular handsets used on these 3G networks.

MUMBAI: Tata Sky Ltd, the joint venture between the Tata Group and Star, has inked a partnership with Humax to support the launch of its Direct-to-Home (DTH) service in mid 2006.

Humax, a provider of digital satellite set-top boxes (STBs), will manufacture set-top boxes in India and also provide after-sales service and support network for Tata Sky customers.

Tata Sky LTD CEO Vikram Kaushik said, “We are committed to building a state-of-the-art DTH operation in India and offer customers with the best satellite TV services available. Our DTH service will completely redefine the television viewing experience in India and our agreement with Humax takes us a step closer to our goal.”

“We are excited to be a part of one of the largest DTH businesses in India. Our worldwide set-top box experience and expertise in the development of the most advanced digital television solutions will play a pivotal role in Tata Sky‘s new business growth,” said Humax head of digital media business unit Dr. J U Kim.

Tata Sky had recently joined hands with Thomson for STBs to support the launch of its DTH service and also teamed up with NDS Group Plc in order to deploy NDS solutions to support and provide range of digital and interactive TV services, ahead of launch.

Also read:

Tata Sky partners with Thomson for set-top-boxes

Tata Sky ties-up with NDS Systems to create interactive service