ITV

Category: News Broadcasting

  • MIH Group forays into Indian internet and digital space

    MIH Group forays into Indian internet and digital space

    MUMBAI: MIH, part of the multinational media group Naspers Limited, is making a foray into the Indian internet and digital space.

    “MIH plans to develop internet and mobile applications for the growing online Indian market. India is an attractive market, which is forecast to show strong economic growth going forward. Internet penetration which is currently only at 4.5 per cent is expected to grow rapidly over the next five to ten years offering many opportunities in online communication. MIH seeks to capitalise on these opportunities in the long run by building strong online communication platforms. MIH Internet’s first office will be based in Gurgaon, Haryana,” said spokesperson for MIH Internet (India) Craig White.

    MIH operates pay television and internet subscriber platforms and related technologies in over 50 countries. Its significant operations are located in South Africa, elsewhere in Africa, Brazil, China, Thailand, The Netherlands, Greece and Cyprus. Given the huge growth in the internet and mobile VAS space in India, the group is now planning investments here.

    The group would be launching a range of innovative applications in the Indian internet and mobile space. Its aim is to create a personal reference world of entertainment and information, which can be accessed wherever you are, whenever you want.

    MIH creates media content, builds brand names around it, and manages the platforms distributing the content. The content is delivered in a variety of forms and through a variety of channels, including television platforms and internet services.

    With a view to expand offices across the nation, the group plans to set up its first office in Gurgaon and hire talent for various functions ranging from engineering, R&D, technology, creative, marketing, sales, support etc.

    The MIH group is exploring media opportunities in emerging markets where strong economic growth is expected. Within emerging markets the specific focus is on the BRICSA countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.

    In China, the group has an investment in the pioneer instant messaging platform, Tencent, which is a developer and operator of innovative real-time communication and online entertainment technologies and services. Tencent’s instant messaging product, QQ, processes more than three billion messages every day and is one of the top 10 portals globally.

  • HCL appoints Puri as SVP retail, media & entertainment in North America

    HCL appoints Puri as SVP retail, media & entertainment in North America

    MUMBAI: HCL Technologies Ltd has appointed Karan Puri to the position of senior vice president for North America, to manage the company’s retail, media, and entertainment groups.

    HCL Technologies provides integrated services in technology, business process operations (BPO) and infrastructure management, enabling customers to transform their businesses, in markets worldwide.

    “Today, these three market groups in North America are poised for transformation and HCL aims to lead their transformation initiatives, which requires a leader of Karan Puri’s caliber, expertise and vision. Karan brings over 20 years experience in IT, BPO and IP development, managing global clients In India, Europe and the US, thereby providing HCL’s North American businesses with a go-to leader who is skilled at solving some of the toughest IT Issues around. These are exciting times, and Karan’s Mission to drive these groups at an executive level, demonstrates HCL’s commitment to be a market leader In the coming quarters,” said HCL Technologies America president Shaml Khorana.

    In the quickly evolving digital media space, adoption of new generation technologies like digital asset management (DAM) and digital rights management (DRM) are leading the charge. With new distribution channels like broadband and wireless networks, licensed digital content, and content security, the industry is investing and consolidating their revenue models. This means leading investments in platform shifts, and managing new revenue models dynamically. Likewise, the gaming and entertainment industry, too, is morphing to meet the Internet-led explosion in consumer traffic.

    The company’s media and entertainment division has the privilege of very strong relationships with key industry players such as GTECH, Thomson Financial, Reed Elsevier, Wolters Kluwer, Lexis Nexls and others.

    In retail, in addition to the thought leadership provided through its joint ventures with the $5 billion dollar Jones Apparel Group; HCL, under Puri’s leadership, will build scale in specific micro-verticals, by investing in emerging initiatives like supply chain visibility, RFID and Master Data Management (MDM).

  • Adelphia closes asset sale to Time Warner Cable & Comcast

    Adelphia closes asset sale to Time Warner Cable & Comcast

    MUMBAI: US cable television company Adelphia Communications Corporation has completed the sale of all of its assets to Time Warner Cable and Comcast Corporation for the aggregate consideration of approximately $12.5 billion in cash and approximately 16 percent of the equity of Time Warner’s cable subsidiary.

    As a result of the sale, Adelphia will no longer operate as a U.S. cable company. Its approximately 4.8 million customers will be distributed between Time Warner Cable and Comcast.

    Teams from the buyers and Adelphia have worked together for months to ensure an orderly transition for customers, communities and the almost 13,000 Adelphia employees who will transfer to Time Warner Cable and Comcast, states an official release.

    Concurrent with the closing of the sale, Adelphia also consummated a plan of reorganization for the former joint ventures with Comcast (Century-TCI and Parnassos), resulting in the repayment in full of approximately $1.7 billion of indebtedness. Adelphia will hold the remaining sale proceeds for distribution to its creditors through a Plan of Reorganization as it seeks to resolve its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

    On 24 July 2006 Adelphia announced an agreement on a framework for a Plan of Reorganization intended to result in a fourth quarter 2006 emergence from Chapter 11. The agreement enjoys widespread support among Adelphia’s major unsecured creditors, including the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, though several constituencies do not support it. Adelphia’s obligations under the agreement and the reorganization plan envisioned by it are subject to approval by the Bankruptcy Court.

    UBS Investment Bank and Allen & Company LLC served as Adelphia’s financial advisors for the sale transaction. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP served as Adelphia’s legal advisor for the sale. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP continues to serve as Adelphia’s legal counsel for the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

  • AOL to launch new video portal

    AOL to launch new video portal

    MUMBAI: AOL, live and on-demand entertainment video programming and video search provider, has announced that it will preview a beta version of its new AOL Video portal later this week.

    Available for free at http://www.aolvideo.com, the new AOL Video is an all-in-one, high-quality entertainment destination to find, watch and share millions of videos across the Web, informs an official release.

    New features on the AOL video portal include, over 45 new video-on-demand content channels with thousands of hours of video programming from entertainment brands, organised and accessible via video search, browse, or an interactive programming guide; free streaming content as well as the ability to purchase and download full-length content that can be viewed on multiple devices and PCs, online or offline; and access to millions of music videos, news clips, movie trailers, full length TV shows, and more, adds the release.

    It includes more than 45 new video channels with content from entertainment brands including A&E Television Networks, MTV Networks, Turner Networks, Warner Bros. Entertainment, among others.

    “AOL has long been a leader in online video and with the new AOL Video portal we have created the best and easiest place online for anyone on the Web to find, watch and share the videos they’re looking for,” said AOL executive VP Kevin Conroy.

    “From originally produced and licensed programming to branded online video-on-demand channels to user-created videos that people create, upload and share on the Web themselves, AOL Video is truly the first one-stop source that brings the best videos on the Web together in one place and gives consumers more choice. If a video is out there, you’ll find it here on AOL Video.com,” he adds.

    AOL Video also includes AOL Video Search, which is based on video search technology from Truveo and Singingfish, and a video player that can go full screen without losing picture quality and that supports AOL’s exclusive Hi-Q video format to watch DVD-quality videos online.

    In addition, the portal includes AOL’s new UnCut Video offering, which makes it easy to upload and share videos online by providing full device support, letting consumers upload and share videos directly from their camcorder, Webcam, video-enabled mobile phone, as well as their PC.

  • US adults with DVR’s belong to upscale and print-oriented group: Study

    US adults with DVR’s belong to upscale and print-oriented group: Study

    MUMBAI: US adults whose households have a digital video recorder (DVR) are more upscale than those that do not and are more likely to be heavy readers of magazines and newspapers and are also heavy users of the Internet.according to the latest data from Mediamark Research Inc.,(MRI).

    According to the Fall 2005 MRI data release, 8.6 per cent of US adults reported having a DVR in their household. That percentage rose to 11.2 per cent of adult households in the Spring 2006 release. The survey period for this release was March 2005 to early May 2006.

    The spring 2006 data show that 36.8 per cent of adults with DVR’s have a college education and 17.1 per cent have average household income exceeding $150,000. Within the entire adult population, 25.2 per cent graduated college and 8% have an average income exceeding $150,000, states an official release issued by the research firm.

    Of adults with DVR’s in the household, 15.7 per cent have home values exceeding $500,000 compared with 9 per cent of the entire adult population.

    In terms of media usage, adults in DVR households are 43 per cent more likely to be heavy readers of magazines (defined as the top quintile of users, based on number of magazines read) than the general adult population. They are 40% more likely to be heavy readers of newspapers (defined as the top quintile of readers, based on number of newspapers read) than the general population.

    Adults in DVR households also tend to use the Internet more than households without DVR’s, as they are 81 per cent more likely to be heavy Internet users (the top quintile of users based on number of times used in a month) than the general population, the release adds.

    On the other hand, adults in DVR households tend to watch less TV than households without DVR’s; they are 23 per cent less likely to be heavy TV viewers (the top quintile of users based on number of one-half hours viewed per week) than is the general adult population.

  • Eight Mumbai kids shortlisted at Hungama TV’s ‘John Aur Kaun?’ auditions

    Eight Mumbai kids shortlisted at Hungama TV’s ‘John Aur Kaun?’ auditions

    MUMBAI: Hungama TV’s Oral-B John aur Kaun (JAK) auditions that were held in Mumbai on 29 July saw over 1000 kids auditioning. The judges had to screen through kids between the age group of 4 -14 years in the first round of Oral-B JAK before short listing 50 kids.

    The final round was held on 30 July in Andheri where celebrity judge Poonam Narula Goel zeroed in on the eight finalists who would represent Mumbai for the final leg. The kids were judged on the basis of their confidence quotient, expressions and creativity in the reaction round.

    The final 8 kids selected from Mumbai are: Kritika Sharma (14), Tanya Sharma (10), Chandni Bhagwanani (13), Smriti Sukhija (11), Anashwar Rurup (7), Rohit Jetwani (10), Gaurav Jetwani (11) and Kevin Johi (11).

    The Oral-B JAK auditions, which received a good response in Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, will now travel across Kolkata and Ahmedabad and will culminate in August. The talented eight contenders per city will be flown to Mumbai for the final rounds. This nationwide audition will be aired as a reality show on Hungama TV where these kids will be seen displaying their singing, acting and dancing talents. The selected kids will be further groomed by eminent industry professionals at every step of the contest.

    Finally, one boy and one girl will be chosen to act in a UTV-produced movie with Hungama TV’s brand ambassador John Abraham. The winners will also be presented with a cash prize of Rs 500,000 each, along with a three year contract with UTV to manage their acting careers.

    Hungama TV COO Zarina Mehta said, “Hundred’s of hugely talented children gathered at the Mumbai auditions and Poonam had a very tough time to finally shortlist the eight kids. The excitement, energy and enthusiasm of the kids and their parents was an inspiration to all of us at Hungama TV. We are truly delighted with the response.”

  • BES Expo 2006 concludes; good response from participants

    New Delhi February 12, 2006: BES Expo 2006, the 12th International Conference & Exhibition on Terrestrial and Satellite Broadcasting, organized by the Broadcast Engineering Society (India) at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi, concluded today. The Expo witnessed overwhelming response from delegates, exhibitors, and visitors. This year’s edition of BES Expo registered over 6,000 visitors, which represents a 20 percent growth as compared to the last year. More than 1,000 delegates from India and abroad participated in the exhibition and conference, representing a growth of 25 percent as compared to the last year. A total of 65 companies representing 300 broadcast equipment manufacturers and solution providers from 25 countries across the globe exhibited at BES Expo this year.

    The Conference Proceedings for the concluding day were spread over three sessions. The highlight of the first session was Future Satellite Technologies. Mr. A Bhaskarnarayana, Director SCP, ISRO, chaired the session. The speakers included Mr. D Venugopal of ASTS; Mr. Sanjay Jasola of IGNOU; Dr. PC Jain of STMicroelectronics; and Mr. ND Acharya of Infinium.

    Elaborating on the techniques for overcoming blockage and multi-path effects for satellite communications and broadcasting in mobile environment, Mr. D Venugopal said, “Recently, there has been a lot of interest in providing satellite broadcast services to cars fitted with omni directional antennae.
    As these services are one-way services without return acknowledgement, special techniques need to be used to overcome multi-path fading and short signal blockage due to foliage and buildings.’’

     

    The focus of the second session was Digital Radio: Present & Future. The merits of various digital radio broadcast standards vis-?-vis their counterparts have been dwelled upon in this session, presided over by Mr.

    Philip Laven, Director (TD), EBU, Geneva. The speakers in this session included Mr. Nick Banks of Radioscape, UK; Mr. Roger Johansson of Factum, Sweden; Mr. Jeff Astle of World DAB, UK; and Mr. Lindsay Cornell of BBC Research, UK. Commenting on the critical factors for planning digital radio rollout by broadcasters, Mr. Jeff Astle said, “The main consumer benefit of DAB is much more choice, as also better sound quality, reception improvements, and ease of use of digital receivers.”

    The last session of Conference Proceedings for BES Expo 2006 broached on Content Protection and Broadcast Rights. It was chaired by Mr. KS Sarma, CEO, Prasar Bharati. The major concerns before the broadcast industry remains maintaining integrity of the broadcast content once it is broadcast.

    The speakers including Mr. Andy Nobbs of Teletrax, UK; Mr. Philip Laven of EBU, Geneva; Mr. Paul Cheesbrough of BBC, UK; and Mr. R Vardarajan of Silicon Image, USA; provided an insight into the use of Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems to prevent users from copying or redistributing protected content.

     

    India has seen phenomenal growth of news channels and FM radio channels, and there still remains potential for further growth. Display of technologies encompassing news automation, satellite broadcasting, and radio broadcasting will help the Indian broadcasters in adopting one that suits them the most. For the first time ever in India, BES Expo 2006 provided a platform for Live Demos on Mobile Broadcasting and Digital Multimedia Broadcasting. The ball has been set rolling for the next year’s edition – BES Expo 2007, which will highlight the theme “Multifaceted Broadcasting”.

    Issued for favor of publications, broadcast and telecast.

    DK Gupta
    Hon. Secretary,
    Broadcast Engineering Society

  • AOL to launch new video portal

    AOL to launch new video portal

    MUMBAI: AOL, live and on-demand entertainment video programming and video search provider, has announced that it will preview a beta version of its new AOL Video portal later this week.

    Available for free at http://www.aolvideo.com, the new AOL Video is an all-in-one, high-quality entertainment destination to find, watch and share millions of videos across the Web, informs an official release.

    New features on the AOL video portal include, over 45 new video-on-demand content channels with thousands of hours of video programming from entertainment brands, organised and accessible via video search, browse, or an interactive programming guide; free streaming content as well as the ability to purchase and download full-length content that can be viewed on multiple devices and PCs, online or offline; and access to millions of music videos, news clips, movie trailers, full length TV shows, and more, adds the release.

    It includes more than 45 new video channels with content from entertainment brands including A&E Television Networks, MTV Networks, Turner Networks, Warner Bros. Entertainment, among others.

    “AOL has long been a leader in online video and with the new AOL Video portal we have created the best and easiest place online for anyone on the Web to find, watch and share the videos they’re looking for,” said AOL executive VP Kevin Conroy.

    “From originally produced and licensed programming to branded online video-on-demand channels to user-created videos that people create, upload and share on the Web themselves, AOL Video is truly the first one-stop source that brings the best videos on the Web together in one place and gives consumers more choice. If a video is out there, you’ll find it here on AOL Video.com,” he adds.

    AOL Video also includes AOL Video Search, which is based on video search technology from Truveo and Singingfish, and a video player that can go full screen without losing picture quality and that supports AOL’s exclusive Hi-Q video format to watch DVD-quality videos online.

    In addition, the portal includes AOL’s new UnCut Video offering, which makes it easy to upload and share videos online by providing full device support, letting consumers upload and share videos directly from their camcorder, Webcam, video-enabled mobile phone, as well as their PC.

  • I&B ministry clears Rs 29.7 billion expansion plan for Doordarshan, AIR

    I&B ministry clears Rs 29.7 billion expansion plan for Doordarshan, AIR

    MUMBAI: As part of the tenth five year plan outlay, the Information & Broadcasting ministry has approved Rs 25.63 billion towards Doordarshan’s development.Additionally, Rs 4.11 billion has been set aside for the expansion of All India Radio’s (AIR) services.

    The total outlay earmarked for DD and AIR in the Tenth Plan is Rs 29.74 billion.

    As part of the expansion plans for AIR, a special package will be provided for Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and the north-eastern states, including Andaman & Nicobar Islands (A&N).
    This was announced by Information & Broadcasting and parliamentary affairs P R Dasmunsi yesterday in the Lok Sabha.

    According to an official statement, 12 new/upgradation projects have been identified for the J&K. Kathua and Rajouri will have FM radio stations as part of the schemes.

    Under Phase I, North East special plan, 10 kW FM transmitters will come up at Itanagar, Kohima and Port Blair.

    Under Phase II of North-Eastern special plan, the undernoted transmission/relay facilities will be provided with
    #10 kW FM transmitter, playback studio, staff quarters at Gangtok – (additional channel).

    #5 kW FM transmitter, playback studio, at Silchar – (additional channel).

    #1 kW FM transmitters, voice over recording/dubbing, field production facilities, staff quarters at 19 places i.e. Daporijo, Anini, Bomdila, Changlang, Khonsa (Arunachal Pradesh), Karimganj, Lumding, Goalpara (Assam), Ukhrul, Tamenglong (Manipur), Dawki (Meghalaya), Tuipang, Chemphai, Kolasib (Mizoram), Wokha, Zunehboto, Phek (Nagaland) and Udaipur, Nutan Bazar (Tripura).

    #100 W FM transmitter at different locations in North Eastern region (100 places) to cover uncovered area.

    Dasmunsi also spoke on the expenditure incurred by AIR and Doordarshan up to June 2006, which has been Rs 592.6 million and Rs 9 billion, respectively, informs the official statement.

    Interestingly, under the second phase of private FM radio stations, the policy prohibits allocation of more than 15 per cent of total allocated channels in the country to a single company – including its holding, subsidiary, inter-connected companies and companies with the same management.

    Moreover, networking of channels by any two entities has also been specifically prohibited.

    Thus, following this restriction, the Reliance-owned Adlabs and Sun-promoted South Asia FM and Kal Radio had to surrender some circles to adhere to the government mandated national cap of 15 per cent. Both the companies had given up on the stations in the north-east zone to abide by the policy. For example:Adlabs Films had surrendered the frequencies, which included Gangtok, Imphal, Kohima, Port Blair, Shillong, to name a few. While, South Asia FM had given up Imphal, Kohima, Port Blair, Rourkela, Muzzaffarpur, amongst others.

  • Modavox forms strategic partnership with INDOlink

    Modavox forms strategic partnership with INDOlink

    MUMBAI: Phoenix-headquartered internet broadcasting pioneer in producing and syndicating online audio and video Modavox has formed a strategic business partnership with INDOlink, an internet media company serving Asian-Indians.

    As per the agreement, Modavox will deliver Internet pay-per-view, podcasts, on-demand movie trailers and streaming video advertising to targeted audiences including Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and India with an estimated audience size of 300 million people.

    INDOlink, the first ethnic niche portal serving Asian-Indians worldwide, specialises in providing valuable and exclusive content and services catering to the core needs of the Asian-Indian community. INDOlink owns internet portals such as PlanetBollywood.com and Nettravel.com.

    Modavox’s VP, Nathaniel Bradley, commented, “Our StreamSyndicate(TM) and StreamSafe(TM) technologies are ideal for security, control and promotion of INDOlink’s Internet content. INDOlink’s niche marketing focus provides an exciting, sizeable opportunity. The capabilities of our proprietary software provide new sources of revenue and business opportunities for advertisers and content providers seeking to access this key demographic.”