ITV

Category: Software

  • CIPL launches EduCard a pioneer in online education

    CIPL launches EduCard a pioneer in online education

    MUMBAI: CIPL has launched EduCard, a breakthrough in the field of education and will be perceived as a benchmark in online education.

    EduCard acts as a one stop solution to eradicate the general problems associated with online education, like buffering, low internet speed, learning while travelling, high costs etc.

    It‘s a data card which doesn‘t need any internet connection and can be plugged into your computer or laptop and the courses can be studied with video and audio interface activated, which makes it difficult to steal it, as it will be customised to work only in a particular computer.

    The basic problem in India is slow speed internet, but EduCard will still enable the user to access data offline and they can be viewed directly at lightening fast speed.

    CIPL CEO Diwakar Dhyani says: “Even when you buy subscription from an education portal you still need to pay every month for the internet, which might cost you around Rs 1,000 per month, so the effective cost comes out to be Rs 12,000 a year but with EduCard you just need to purchase it once with no further additional cost.”

  • Hathway Cable generates profits courtesy digitisation in FY-2013

    Hathway Cable generates profits courtesy digitisation in FY-2013

    MUMBAI: It‘s obviously bearing the fruits of the government mandated digitisation of Indian cable TV and of being among the first movers in the sector. Hathway Cable & Datacom, which proudly claims that it is India‘s largest high speed cable broadband services provider on its website, has seen a remarkable turnaround in profits in Q4-2013 and in FY2013. It had posted net losses in the previous quarters. The results were posted after market hours this evening.

    With 1.4 million two-way broadband enabled homes together with a subscriber base over 50 per cent of the total Indian cable TV broadband market, it was awarded as the best Indian MSO by indiantelevision.com‘s The Indian Telly Awards for its quality cable TV and broadband internet services earlier this month.

    Let us look at the Q4-2013 financials as against Q4-2012

    The cable TV services provider notched up total sales of Rs 231.18 crore in Q4-2013 as against Rs 135.46 crore in Q4-2012 – a phenomenal 70.6 per cent jump.

    Expenses at Rs 186.88 crore in Q4-2013 grew when compared to Rs 139.30 crore in Q4-2012. Greater transparency in its operations, following phase 1 of digitisation, has resulted in it forking out more money to pay TV channels. Its pay TV channel costs have gone up to Rs 49.50 crore from Rs 38.79 crore in Q4-2012. Employee benefits have climbed to Rs 10.52 crore (Rs 7.68 crore).

    What grabs our attention the most is the company‘s positive bottomline which is at Rs 28.27 crore as against a reported net loss of Rs 6.79 crore in Q4-2012.

    Let us look at the Q4-2013 financials as against the preceding Q3-2013

    Considering the quarterly trend, the top line (revenue) at Rs 231.18 crore witnessed a massive jump of nearly 50 per cent over Q3-2013‘s revenue of Rs 154.91 crore.

    Expenses have surged to Rs 186.88 crore in Q4-2013 as against Rs 147.57 crore in the immediate preceding Q3-2013. Major contributors to this surge are attributed to pay channels costs which stood at Rs 49.50 crore (Rs 42.96 crore in Q3-2013).

    Yet again Hathway‘s net profit of Rs 28.27 crore, as against a net loss of Rs 7.42 crore in Q3-2013 remains the most welcome of them all.

    Let us look at the consolidated FY-2013 results as against FY-2012

    Although it recorded net losses for three of the four quarters in FY-2013, Hathway Cable & Datacom has reported impressive overall results. Its revenues rose 12 per cent to Rs 1132.52 crore as against Rs 1012.12 crore in FY-2012. It tightened the screws on expenses allowing these to rise only 3.6 per cent to Rs 1024.74 crore (from Rs 988.74 crore in FY-2012).

    Its profits from operations gallopped to Rs 107.78 crore in FY-2013 as against Rs 23.38 crore. And what‘s more it has reported a smiling net profit of Rs 15.90 crore as against a loss of Rs 49.18 crore in FY-2012.

    The company appears to have been leveraging itself to fund digitisation in phase I as its borrowings have skyrocketed. Its long term borrowings have more than doubled to Rs 669.08 crore in FY-2013 from Rs 269.95 crore in FY-2012. It has resorted to higher short term debt during the year too, with the figure standing at Rs 76.18 crore on 31 March 2013 as against FY-2012 Rs 21.28 crore. Its current liabilities have also doubled from Rs 310 crore in FY-2012 to Rs 617.68 crore in FY-2013.

    The company says that, in view of introduction of DAS, it along with other MSOs, is in the process of finalising fresh terms of revenue sharing with local cable operators through whom the cable services are rendered to the ultimate subscriber.

    On August 2012, the Hathway stock was trading at Rs 173.12. It then moved up to Rs 300 in a matter of four months in December 2012. Following that the stock has been range-bounding between Rs 236 and Rs 276. It broke out to Rs 290 on 14 May 2013 only to fall back to Rs 269 on 23 May 2013. The Hathway stock closed today at Rs 275.05 as against the previous closing of Rs 273.10.
  • Nilesh Pathak is Isobar India CTO

    Nilesh Pathak is Isobar India CTO

    MUMBAI: Digital agency Isobar India which is part of the Aegis Media India group has appointed Nilesh Pathak as its chief technology officer, in keeping with its technology thrust.

    Now the agency will also endeavour to become India‘s fastest growing tech agency, servicing both global and national clients from India.

    He is a technology leader with over 16 years of experience building high quality enterprise software for various domains using wide range of methodologies and technologies. He comes to Isobar India, from JP Morgan (India). At JP Morgan as VP, his responsibilities included providing technology leadership to its Treasury Services platforms. During this time he managed technology deliveries of large scale enterprise applications while growing technology quotient of the teams in India.

    Prior to JP Morgan, Nilesh had been one of the co-founders of Vizualize Technologies (now LBi India). He was one of the key players in growing Visualize Technologies from a single digit team to over 100.

    Isobar India MD Shamsuddin Jasani said, “Nilesh is joining us at a very exciting time in Isobar. Technology will play a key role in our goal to become the most sought after digital agency and nilesh will play a key role as a member of our senior management team to make this happen.”

    Pathak said, “I am very thrilled to be part of one of the fastest growing digital agency and look forward to take Isobar India to next level. With digital marketing spends on the rise this is perfect timing for Isobar India to be further reinforcing its technical expertise and delivery capabilities.”

  • BuzzFeed, CNN to launch a news video channel for millennials

    BuzzFeed, CNN to launch a news video channel for millennials

    MUMBAI: BuzzFeed has announced plans to invest in and expand its video operations and build a social video studio, designed to create news and entertainment video content exclusively for YouTube. Led by BuzzFeed executive VP of video Ze Frank, the video team will apply the same types of strategies that have made BuzzFeed a hub for some of the internet‘s most viral content to create shareable video content for a video-driven generation.

    BuzzFeed president and COO Jon Steinberg said, “There has been a massive cultural shift in how people – particularly young people – consume news and entertainment and Ze and his team are tapping into the next generation of video production and consumption.

    “Over 70 per cent of BuzzFeed‘s traffic is social, almost half is mobile, and we are seeing these huge shifts earlier than others because the majority of our readers are 18-34. We are thrilled to partner with YouTube to bring a new generation of video content to a BuzzFeed audience that lives on social media and mobile phones”.

    YouTube director, global head of news content partnerships Jed Simmons said, “BuzzFeed has built a remarkably engaged audience and their YouTube channels are a testament to their understanding of news and entertainment. They have a very special way of telling a story.

    “BuzzFeed‘s decision to double down on their YouTube channels is incredibly exciting and we look forward to continuing to work together and helping them grown.”

    As part of its expansion initiative, BuzzFeed has partnered with CNN to launch the ‘CNN BuzzFeed‘ channel on YouTube. Powered by CNN‘s current and archival video footage, BuzzFeed will create unique mash-up news videos tailored for the social web. The content will appear on both CNN.com and the CNN/BuzzFeed YouTube channel. In addition, the two organisations will collaborate on original list posts that combine the strength of CNN‘s newsgathering and BuzzFeed‘s signature voice. The lists will be published to CNN.com starting today.

    CNN Digital senior VP KC Estenson said, “By pairing the journalistic strength and reach of the CNN brand with BuzzFeed‘s unique editorial approach and young audience, our partnership will enable both organisations to engage new audiences. It‘s the perfect modern day media collaboration.”

    BuzzFeed executive VP of video Ze Frank said, “From web video‘s infancy to a massive shift to mobile video viewing, the community and ecosystem of YouTube is at the heart of the social web. BuzzFeed‘s massive audience is hungry for new, interesting video formats, YouTube gets that better than anyone and we‘re elated to be working with them. CNN.com is one of the biggest, strongest news sites in the world. We are thrilled to work with their talented team and to tap into their incredible archive of footage as we try to crack original news video for the social web.”

  • Brahma Kumaris’ Godlywood Studios installs Harman Studer Vista mixing console

    Brahma Kumaris’ Godlywood Studios installs Harman Studer Vista mixing console

    NEW DELHI: Godlywood Studios – set up by Brahma Kumaris, World Renewal Spiritual Trust at Mount Abu – has installed a Harman Studer Vista 1 mixing console to serve at the heart of its audio system.

    The new Studio is situated in its Shantivan Complex at its International Headquarters at Abu Road, Rajasthan.

    This highly advanced electronic media studio creates television programmes and films dedicated to spreading spiritual knowledge and Raja Yoga meditation and is intended to create and air various spiritually oriented TV programmes and films.

    It was conceived and initiated by Brahma Kumari Organisation managing trustee BK Ramesh Shah. Following Shah‘s vision to create a world-class studio with all functional infrastructure facilities under one roof, the implementation of this project was handed over to BK Harilal (Haridas Bhanushali) and the team executed this project in a short span of one year.

    Determined to create a modern facility with world-class tools and equipment, Godlywood studios enlisted a technical committee comprised of BK Shiva, Shashi Mekal and Gerard Goveia of Broadcast Media Equipments Pvt Ltd (BMEPL) along with Harman Professional India Recording & Broadcast Sales Manager Ashish Barje. The team selected Harman‘s Studer Vista 1 mixing console to serve at the heart of the studio, marking the first installation of a Studer Vista 1 in India.

    “The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organisation [BKWSO] chose the Studer Vista 1 as the perfect fit for Godlywood studios because the primary requirement was that of a compact solution without compromise on system performance, DSP capability or reliability. The Studer Vista 1 enables us to have the control surface, I/O system, DSP and power supplies all contained within one very small footprint console,” said Godlywood Studios Technical Head Shashi Mekal.

    The BKWSO was also impressed with the Vista 1 for its user-friendly, easy-to-learn interface and unique functionality with its Vistonics user interface and 40 on-screen rotary knobs. Using Studer‘s unique Virtual Surround Panning, the operator can take mono sources and create a realistic sound field for a film quickly and easily.

    The system integration for the project was performed by TASS Services of Mumbai. AVF Distributors, the authorised dealer for Harman‘s broadcast range, supplied the console to Godlywood.

    Commenting on a successful installation, Gerard Goveia, Director, TASS Services, Mumbai, said, “The Studer Vista 1 perfectly fit the bill given the specifications by BKWSO, as well as the budget for the studio‘s setup. The Vista 1 sits at the heart of the studio, providing complete control and ease of operation to the technical users.”

    In addition to the Studer Vista 1, Godlywood Studios deployed a full array of Harman technologies in the space, including three JBL 3730 ScreenArray cinema loudspeakers, one JBL 4642A subwoofer and eight JBL 8320 compact cinema surround loudspeakers. The system is powered with five Crown DSi 1000 and two DSi 4000 amplifiers.

    Godlywood Studios also features an audio dubbing studio equipped with AKG C414 microphones and dbx processors, as well as an HD multicam shooting floor that has JBL LSR4326 studio monitors.

    Elaborating on Harman‘s legendary expertise in broadcast solutions across the world, Harman Professional India Operations senior director David McKinney said, “The Studer Vista 1 has proven to be the ideal console for this prestigious installation at Godlywood Studios. The internal 5.1-to-stereo down mix function allows for simultaneous live productions in both formats; this saves a lot of time for the engineers having to redo the mix. Being a successful installation of Studer Vista 1 in India, we are extremely proud of the installation and the team involved has done a commendable job in the project.”

    The Brahma Kumaris organisation is spread over 138 countries with 8,500 centres.

  • IndiaCast assigns digital content management duties to Tangerine Digital

    IndiaCast assigns digital content management duties to Tangerine Digital

    MUMBAI: IndiaCast Media Distribution, the JV of TV18 and Viacom18 has appointed digital content management agency Tangerine Digital to manage the digital content of their flagship channels on digital platforms.

    IndiaCast is mandated to drive domestic and international channel distribution, placement services and content syndication for TV18, Viacom18, A&E Networks, TV18 and the Eenadu group. Tangerine will be responsible for curating and packaging all Video on Demand (VOD) content in order to aid discovery for IndiaCast while at the same time, ensuring stringent turnaround time for publishing of episodic videos.

    To take the relationship forward, Tangerine will bring its experience in content management and metadata services for the broadcast industry. They will not only assist IndiaCast in its endeavour to increase operational efficiencies to consolidate their distribution functions of both media houses but also support the distribution venture reach newer markets. Tangerine will capture, curate and publish episodic videos of six channels (including Colors TV) within 45 minutes of its premier on-air telecast in India. Italso will create individual episodic videos of shows like ‘Balika Vadhu‘ and ‘Uttaran‘ etc of Colors in addition to regional content from five of ETV‘s bouquet of channels.

    IndiaCast Group CEO Anuj Gandhi said, “Tangerine has been a very strong partner in growing our digital footprint. The team has

     

    always delivered successfully to our tight and aggressive schedules and has a rapid and effective response mechanism to meet dynamics of the digital environment. We are pleased to work with Tangerine and look forward to a long term fruitful association.

     

    Tangerine Digital CEO Kesavan Kanchi Kandadai said, “The media distribution industry is currently witnessing a phenomenal revolution in the way media content is circulated and consumed. Increased bandwidth and easy access of Internet through tablets and smartphones is fueling exponential growth of online video consumption, in turn unlocking new channels in the way content is created, distributed and monetised. We at Tangerine are entirely focused on this evolving digital environment and will continue to pioneer new and creative ways to engage, entertain and inform audiences. We believe we have the capabilities and the focused strategic approach and expertise to add value to the brand IndiaCast.”

    Tangerine Digital offers integrated services across content creation and management including sports content, repurposing videos for VoD platforms and creating theme based text and video content across e-commerce, web, mobile and social media platforms. Additionally, Tangerine also creates metadata for video and images and moderates user generated content to protect and de-risk the brands on the digital platforms and manages the YouTube channel of the client.
  • BBC Worldwide Labs to mentor six digital startups this year

    BBC Worldwide Labs to mentor six digital startups this year

    MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Labs has announced the finalists for the second Labs programme which kicks off next month in London.

    The six digital media start-ups are: Animal Vegetable Mineral, Oddizzi, Future Ad Labs, Social Spree, Peekabu Studios and The Backscratchers.

    The selected start-ups are all at the point of commercialisation where BBC Worldwide Labs can play an important role in their further development and growth. The companies represent an array of emerging trends from the digital arena including: 3D gaming, animation, play captchas, gesture tracking, social media measurement tools and education.

    Following in the footsteps of the first group of companies, the class of the year will be offered the opportunity to work within BBC Worldwide‘s London head quarters with support from teams across legal, sales and marketing, business development and technology, as well as access to mentors from within BBC Worldwide and the BBC and external mentors from companies such as Wayra, Facebook, General Assembly and Google. The programme will also include a number of bespoke networking sessions, development sessions and mentoring all focused on supporting the scaling up of the businesses and the possibility of securing commercial partnership either within BBC Worldwide or with other partners.

  • Google to use balloons to spread internet reach

    Google to use balloons to spread internet reach

    MUMBAI: Google has come up with an innovative way to spread the reach of the internet to a billion or more new people, including small villages and cities outside of major urban areas in south east Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

    To achieve this purpose the company will use special balloons to broadcast the wireless connection.

    A report in The Wall Street Journal states that the aim is to use a combination of CPUs and Android phones to connect a much larger wireless network, utilising airwaves primarily used for television broadcasts.

    The networks also could be used to improve internet speeds in urban centers. Google plans to team up with local telecom companies and equipment providers in the emerging markets to develop the networks, as well as create business models to support them, these people said. It is unclear whether Google already has lined up such deals or alliances the report adds.

  • Trai’s tariff order gets a mixed response from leading MSOs and DTH service providers

    Trai’s tariff order gets a mixed response from leading MSOs and DTH service providers

    MUMBAI: Cable TV and DTH industry executives have given a mixed response to the standard tariff package order which they can charge subscribers for set top boxes (STBs) and consumer premise equipment (CPE) that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) announced late last evening. Called The Telecommunication (Broadcasting & Cable) Services Fifth – The Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems Tariff Order 2013 and The Telecommunication (Broadcasting & Cable) Sixth -The Direct to Home Services Tariff Order 2013, respectively, they seek to offer another option for buying STBs to TV viewers in India.

    Leading Indian MSO DEN Networks COO M.G. Azhar was reasonably happy about the orders being release. Says he: “It is good news. Under the new order, the government has standardised a payback period of three years for the STB/CPEs.”

    He, however, confessed that he does not know how much of an impact it would have on consumer offtake. “Our experience shows that we have not had too many subscribers opting for the basic STBs which we have been offering to them in the past with similar packages,” he reveals. “We used to take Rs 600 or so when a consumer signed on for DEN‘s DAS services and then adjust the cost of the STB through the subscription fees we levied every month. Normally, we have been seeing more offtake coming for the better STBs.”

    Some like Tata Sky MD and CEO Harit Nagpal said it was too early to respond to the media about the Trai tariff orders. “We are responding to the Trai on this directly,” he explained. “We are seeing how quickly we can implement it.”

    Videocon d2H CEO Anil Khera admitted that he was not so sure if the orders would be acceptable to all. But he added that his company was trying to understand what its impact would be on the DTH sector. “We are currently studying the order and seeking legal advice as well, we are still trying to understand the logistical issues,” stated Khera.

    Indusind Media & Communications Ltd MD Ravi Manshukhani, was pretty non-committal about the Trai‘s new orders. “Whatever they have put out is absolutely fair, we just hope that we are able to implement whatever is required from our end with support from the government,” he stated.

    But he also highlighted that the operator should have the right to quote his price for the STBs he is giving his customers. He cautioned: “See the government is playing its part in creating guidelines for the sector, but they do not know what is actually happening on the ground. We have not yet matured as a market to provide what Trai wants. Right now we all are in the process of digitising the country as per the demands of Trai and ministry of information and broadcasting, so we are providing the boxes at whatever prices we can. If there are more rules and regulations like this then it is only going to make things painful.”

    So the verdict of the industry on the new Trai tariff orders seems rather unclear. Let‘s wait and watch, and see how they react to it over the next few days.

    Also read:

    Trai issues Tariff Orders for STBs/CPEs for DTH and cable TV operators

    TRAI acts tough about DAS; moves court against cable TV ops

    Trai issues draft tariff package for STBs/CPEs for DTH and cable TV ops

  • TRAI acts tough about DAS; moves court against cable TV ops

    TRAI acts tough about DAS; moves court against cable TV ops

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is flexing its muscles. The telco regulator has taken about a dozen cable operators to a Delhi court for not providing details of subscribers of set-top boxes (STBs) to multi-system operators (MSO) which is necessary to ensure accountability in digitisation of cable TV services.

    The regulator has filed a complaint before chief metropolitan magistrate Vidya Prakash, saying that cable TV operators have not been complying with its regulations relating the government mandated digital addressable system (DAS). Under this, cable ops are supposed to attach a set top box to TV sets of their subscribers. And they have to provide customer details along with their choice of services, choice of channels and bouquets. But they have not been forwarding these to the MSO, the TV signals of which they are delivering to their subscribers. TRAI had ordered this to be the norm to ensure transparency and acccountability.

    The regulator had in May 2012 issued its standards of quality of services (Qos) which provides for connection, disconnection, transfer, shifting of the cable TV services, procedure for handling subscribers complaints and redressal, for obtaining/ supplying STBs, changing the position of channels, payment of bills and responsibilities of cable operators and MSOs for ensuring quality of service at the subscriber level.

    According to the QoS, cable ops had to mandatorily provide consumer information. But when it was getting updates about the spread of digitisation in phase I in the four metros, it discovered that some linked cable ops were shying away from providing relevant consumer details like total number of STBs seeded and operationalised, their choice of channels, bouquets and about subscribers. The TRAI also disclosed that the cable ops have failed to comply with its notices.

    Small cable ops have been having run-ins with the TRAI from time to time, fearing future survival in a scenario where the MSO ends up building a direct relationship with their subscribers.