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  • Texas Instruments strengthens India presence; to set up new R&D center

    Texas Instruments strengthens India presence; to set up new R&D center

    MUMBAI: At a meeting with the press today hosted by Communications & IT minister Dayanidhi Maran, Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) outlined how continued support of open technology standards would enable India to reach its goal of 500 million mobile phone subscribers by 2010.

    TI Wireless Terminals Business Unit SVP Gilles Delfassy also announced that TI is increasing its wireless design presence in India with a new research and development (R&D) center in Chennai. TI’s history in India began with a research and development center in Bangalore more than 20 years ago, states an official release.

    “Mobile phone growth in India is nothing short of a phenomenon, and the wireless industry waits for India’s next move because of the impact it will have on the future of mobile phones,” says Delfassy. “Today, there is a huge opportunity to connect the unconnected as the majority of India’s population does not have access to communications services. TI has been committed to India for over 20 years, and I’m pleased to say that we are escalating our existing wireless design presence in recognition of the importance of India to the global wireless market.”

    Choosing efficient, cost-effective mobile technology will be critical to meet India’s burgeoning wireless growth, as will be the ability to stay at the forefront of innovation. Two open technologies that offer great promise for India are GSM and DVB-H. “Open standards such as GSM and DVB-H technologies for mobile phones will provide the market with greater choice, better value and more opportunities for innovation. Based on our 17 years experience as a leader in the wireless industry, working to make our customers successful, we believe the best way to enable growth is through open standards,” Delfassy adds.

    According to market research corporation iSuppli, GSM is the predominant technology in India. This year, the GSM growth rate in India is outpacing all other competing technologies. With a natural 3G migration path to GPRS/EDGE/UMTS, GSM offers an inherent advantage in driving this growth, points out the release.

    “GSM has proven to be a great fit for India because it offers choice in terms of products and services available. GSM not only offers entry-level phones for those who have never owned a mobile phone, it also provides mid- range feature phones and smartphones for the growing middle class. GSM stimulates innovation and open competition and ensures that consumers have easy access to a broad choice of operators, seamless roaming and billing across networks and the most cost-efficient handsets on the market,” says Delfassy.

    Delfassy noted that TI is committed to driving down handset costs with its “LoCosto” family of single-chip mobile phone solutions, which will accelerate wireless penetration in emerging high-volume markets like India. Low-cost handsets based on TI’s “LoCosto” platform are expected on the market in India later this year.

    Delfassy also addressed live broadcast TV on the mobile phone, a technology which is stirring interest in India, and the importance of open industry standards such as DVB-H to drive adoption of mobile DTV. DVB-H technology is an open industry standard that has become the predominant technology used to deploy mobile TV services around the world. More than 100 companies are developing or deploying services, components and devices based on DVB-H, and more than 300 million users have access to DVB-H.

    “Like GSM technology, DVB-H has a competitive environment, which fosters lower costs and spurs innovation. It’s no longer difficult to imagine watching a cricket game or a ‘Bollywood’ movie anywhere, anytime, right on your mobile phone — that vision is now a reality,” he says.

    Closing his remarks, Delfassy reiterated TI’s commitment to India and continued support of open standards.

    “TI has long believed India offers huge potential — as a market, as an innovator, and as a global provider of mobile phone technology and services. It is this belief that led us to build a development center in Bangalore over 20 years ago and to expand our presence with a new research and development center in Chennai. TI remains committed to providing products and services that open up the possibilities for mobile technology in India and that help operators and manufacturers here be successful. And we are determined to do all we can to help India realize its vision of 500 million mobile phone users within the next four years,” Delfassy concluded.

    Providing views on the benefits of GSM technology, India’s Cellular Operators Association drector general T.V. Ramachandran, said, “GSM continues to be the predominant driver of mobile growth, both internationally as well as in India. This standard is growing from strength to strength having recently crossed 2 billion subscribers worldwide. GSM’s global predominance is due to its several advantages which include open standards, interoperability, economies of scale, seamless global roaming, widespread prepaid solutions, rich and versatile value-added services. This standard is committed to bringing the benefits of connectivity to the common man and also fulfilling their aspirations for feature rich services that are available on the GSM platform. The single-chip solution by Texas Instruments is another important innovation that will further improve the affordability of the service and drive access.”

    TI is one of the leading manufacturers of wireless semiconductors, and provides a breadth of silicon and software and over 15 years of wireless systems expertise that spans handsets and base stations for all communications standards, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, A-GPS, mobile TV and Ultra Wideband.

  • Exiting X-Games get exiting sponsors

    Exiting X-Games get exiting sponsors

    ESPN-Star Sports along with its sponsors will expand its X Games Brand to include new tours in Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan.

    The ESS event management group is organising the third Asian X Games Qualifier taking place at Phuket, Thailand from 7-10 December. Toyota is continuing with its sponsorship due to the immense success of the previous X games and will take the 2000 Asian X Tour to Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan. Completing the list of confirmed sponsors of this year’s AXQ is the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

    ESS viewers across Asia, Australia, Japan, Europe and Latin America will be able to enjoy the X games, a competing sport of extreme games. The Asian version of the X games began as the qualifying round of the US summer X games which served as a platform for players of these exiting sports to showcase their talents.

    Along with their tremendous appeal to attract local people, the X games also translate into prime programming for ESS. A strong proof of this is the fact that Motor Sports giant Toyota is continuing with its sponsorship with a promise that it will sponsor the X games for another two years so that it can identify with the theme of passion and sports which Toyota says goes with its brand.

    The X tours consists of three qualifying events to select competitors for the 2000 AXQ. The X tour is slated to stop in Bangkok (12-14 August), Taipei (9-10 September) and Singapore (7-8 September). In addition to this ESS will be organising viewing events in the Philippines and Malaysia.

  • Headbanger’s Ball

    Headbanger’s Ball

    Usually my Sunday afternoon siestas are broken by Barking Boxer. He lives in the building behind ours and his weekly treat is playing cricket with his human friends on the street. He cheers loudly and unreservedly. Last Sunday, he went ballistic. The size of the ball in the narrowness of the playing area confused him and drove him ecstatic at the same time – that’s right, the kids next door had switched to footer.

    As had the whole country. Not just Kerala and Goa and West Bengal. Finally, cricket fever is abating. Forgive this terrible indiscretion, but I never could understand what millions saw in twenty two men in long pants chasing a tiny ball around a wide open field, every thirty excruciating seconds, and could keep at it for hours, even days, together.

    By now, the evidence that football fever has overtaken cricket is all over the place – the viewership figures of 5.2 million speak for themselves. In a couple of weeks, Intellect will tell us how much out of home television viewing occurred as well, and I would not be surprised if that added a good 50 per cent to the overall.

    Last Sunday gave us the unusual and perhaps unlikely occurrence of two awesome live telecast finals almost back to back. Not middle of the road pop music cricket, but the intense mastery of stroke making jazz music tennis at primetime, and the ultimate headbanger’s ball later that night. From the classy Federer sporting a pristine white jacket bearing his family insignia, to the crassness of a skirmish that a hero will regret all his life, the evening kept audiences glued to their sets.

    In sheer numbers, the total home viewing audience on July 9th in the top six cities went up by 33 per cent over the average Sunday (the average Sunday itself including a live telecast ODI cricket match between home team India and the West Indies at prime time on May 28). One and a half million more viewers were added, with the audience post 11 pm alone shooting up from 2.1 million to 4.1 million viewers. Average viewing minutes post 11 pm nearly doubled from 56 to 92 minutes.

    By now, the evidence that football fever has overtaken cricket is all over the place – the viewership figures of 5.2 million speak for themselves
    _____****_____

    The maximum increase percentage wise was observed among male children aged 4 to 14 years – at 43 per cent. Boxer’s friends sure had a well filled day that day. While the maximum increase in volumes was observed among the 35 plus. 3.75 lakh more men tuned in to watch television on Awesome Twosome Sunday, up from 9 lakh men over 35 in these six cities on an average Sunday in summer. Plus a whole lot more in pubs, clubs and friend’s places.

    And hold your breath – 3.34 lakh more women over 35 too! (One of them being me.)

    All in all it was a sports lover’s treat, of course, but not just limited to the sports lover. And that’s what makes this story all that more interesting. It holds out promise for all the other deserving but so far unsupported sport in this country. Add plenty of eye candy to the promotion of the sport, speed things up a bit, pour in millions of dollars, globalize the players keeping up with the worldly new definition of ‘home’, and who knows – twenty years down the line, Barking Boxer – or his progeny – could well be keeping time to hu-tu-tu.

    (With grateful thanks to aMap for the data and Deepa Menon of Intellect – LMG for the analysis).

    (The author is Lintas India Director of Media Services)

    (The views expressed here are those of the author and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to the same)

  • Sony Entertainment gets high valuation; promoters disagree on certain issues

    Sony Entertainment gets high valuation; promoters disagree on certain issues

    India’s number two private Hindi entertainment television channel Sony Entertainment Television (SET) is believed to have been valued at US$2.5 billion, the leading Indian financial daily The Economic Times reported today.

    SET’s promoters -Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and a group of Indian entrepreneurs which includes cine star Jackie Shroff – have reportedly divested five per cent of the company’s equity in favour of Capital International. Capital International has coughed up US$125 million for the five per cent stake which will be pumped into SET’s Indian and Singapore outfits through its Japanese arm Capital Japan. SET has operations in India through SET India Ltd and in Singapore through SET Satellite (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

    The US$125 million valuation for a five per cent stake gives SET an enterprise valuation valuation of US$2.5 billion. The promoters had at one stage expected the valuation to be in the region of US$5 billion. One of the promoters had candidly admitted to http://www.indiantelevision.com that that was the valuation about six months ago.

    But apparently the downtrend in media stocks in India and the nosedive in the valuation of Zee Telefilms Ltd – which has seen its market capitalisation evaporate to one fourth of what it was in the early part of this year – led to a lower valuation for SET.

    The newspaper says that there was disagreement between the Indian promoters and SPE on the modus operandi of divestment. Capital Japan was believed to be in favour of an early exit through an initial public offering (IPO) within a year of it taking a stake in SET. SPE, however, was against any commitment on the timeframe for an IPO.

    SET, the newspaper says, convinced Capital Japan to extend the timeframe to 24 months. SPE, apparently, is believed to be unhappy about this also.

    However, that’ s an issue which will be resolved over time. For the nonce, SET India can be happy that it has managed to get some funds in its kitty which will go a long way in its battle with market leader Zee TV.

    None of the officials in SET India or its promoters were willing to comment on the The Economic Times newsreport.

  • Endemol India to produce Star One show TGILC Dwitiya

    Endemol India to produce Star One show TGILC Dwitiya

    MUMBAI: Endemol India will produce the upcoming Star One show The Great Indian Laughter Champions Dwitiya. Launching on 14 July, the show will attempt to showcase the best talents from both Season one and two of Laughter Challenge.

    In it’s second avtaar, The Great Indian Laughter Champions has become snazzier and is spruced up with unimaginable comical histrionics and a host of film stars, claims an official release. If Hritik Roshan, Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra, Soha Ali Khan, Dia Mirza and Suniel Shetty enthralled the viewers on The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Dwitiya, celebrities like Riya Sen, Isha Koppikar, Mahesh Manjrekar and Udita Goswami amongst others, will team-up with Shekhar and Sidhu on The Great Indian Laughter Champions Dwitiya. The show has also been revamped as Shekhar and Sidhu judge the contest separately, adds the release.

    Announcing the launch, Endemol India MD Rajesh Kamat said, “We are glad to team-up with Star One and present The Great Indian Laughter Champions Dwitiya to the viewers in India. As a production house we have tried our best to present a dose of whacked-out humour with panache and flamboyance to cure Friday night blues with experimental laughter therapy! We intend to successfully develop some more path-breaking shows and be an integral part of this sunrise industry in the country.”

    Endemol has already delivered formats like Fear Factor India, Deal Ya No Deal and Heart Beat, besides producing shows like The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Dwitiya.

  • ABC Asia Pacific to launch as Australia Network on 7 August

    ABC Asia Pacific to launch as Australia Network on 7 August

    MUMBAI: Starting 7 August, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Asia Pacific will be called the Australia Network, offering news, documentaries, drama and lifestyle programs. In its new avatar, the network will bring some new programmes but with same spirit and zeal across Asia.

    In India, the channel will be distributed by Global Broadcast News (GBN). In a recent interview to Indiantelevision.com, GBN joint managing director Sameer Manchanda disclosed, “We have just signed up to be the Indian agent of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, an infotainment channel with large doses of news and travel shows.”

    Featuring live coverage from around the region, it will be produced exclusively for Australia Network by the ABC TV news and current affairs division.

    The channel will air a brand new current affairs programmes Focus on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 PM Evening bulletins will feature three times per night at 5 PM, 7 PM and 9 PM, with exclusive reports from the four new correspondents in the region reporting from Delhi, Beijing, South Pacific and Jakarta in addition to ABC correspondents from around the world.

    Adelaide based actor Margot Politis will host Study English, which has been designed specifically to help students prepare for study overseas or improve their career prospects. Politis is also the host of the ABC Education programme Like It Is.

    Business English will focus on helping people improve their career prospects by learning the worlds global language of business.

    The dramas are uniquely Australian, created, written and produced in Australia. The Australia Networks will bring in a daily soap Home & Away. It will air at 5:30 PM

    There will be a special one hour recap of all Home & Away every Sunday at 6 PM The network will showcase more Aussie drama such as hospital drama All Saints; the award winning police series Blue Heelers; Love My Way with Claudia Karvan; Travel favourite Getaway and many more.

    The Network will be carrying coverage ranging from horse racing (The Melbourne Cup), to V8 Supercars to surfing and of course rugby International Rugby Union featuring the International Test Matches between Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, France and Ireland as well as the Tri Nations and Bledisloe Cups, National Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Rules Football (AFL).

  • Film & Television Producers Guild opposes proposed Broadcast Bill

    Film & Television Producers Guild opposes proposed Broadcast Bill

    MUMBAI: Media bodies are now waking up to condem on the draft of Broadcast Bill prepared by the information and broadcasting (I&B). After the Indian Broadcast Federation (IBF) has opposed the cross-media holding restrictions and the so-called Draconian clauses in the bill.

    The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd has expressed its concerns about recent reports in the media that the government of India is planning to present a Broadcast Bill in the monsoon session of parliament.

    In an according to an official release issued, the Guild feels that the proposals are retrograde in nature, restrictive and definitely regressive.

    The Guild fears that if this bill is passed, anybody will have the right to complain to competent authorities and they will have the right to intervene. This will hamper the smooth functioning of media components and can lead to unnecessary government control of media. 

    The Bill also talks of imposing restriction on cross-media holding which is against the spirit of free enterprise. Also, extremely important problems of Copyright Theft and Piracy which together threaten to cripple the industry have not been addressed at all in the bill.

    The Guild which represents all major stakeholders in the Filmed Content space would like to play a more active role in this and should definitely be consulted before any such Bill is finalized/passed, informs the release.

  • Distraction promotes Richardson to acquisition manager

    Distraction promotes Richardson to acquisition manager

    MUMBAI: Distraction Formats acquisitions and sales coordinator Nina Richardson has been promoted to acquisitions manager. This was announced by Distraction CEO and president Michel Rodrigue.

    Richardson joined the Distraction team in 2004 from the VTR Group, a Soho based post production house.

    In addition to continued work with Distraction’s sales team to source and sign new properties, Richardson will now be spearheading the growth of the format broker’s acquisitions department and developing structures in line with its expanding sales department.

    She will also be in charge of sourcing new formats to complement Distraction’s current catalogue, which includes scripted comedies, prime-time entertainment formats and ready-to-air footage.

    Rodrigue said, “Over the past two years, Nina has been implicated in all aspects of Distraction’s business and has acquired a thorough knowledge of the industry. Her skills and flair will definitely contribute to the continued growth and development of the company.”

  • Sahara One to launch new weekend chat show on 15 July

    Sahara One to launch new weekend chat show on 15 July

    MUMBAI: Sahara One Television will be launching a new chat show – Mrs Punjabi – on 15 July. The half hour show will be aired on Saturdays and Sundays at 7.30 pm, just before the 8 pm movie on the channel.

    In the first episode, the show, whose anchor’s name is being kept under wraps by the channel will have Shahrukh Khan, Mallika Sherawat and Mahesh Bhatt together on Indian television for the first time.

    The show feasts on hot gossips as Mrs Punjabi unveils the secrets and buried facts about her special guests, behind the scenes of latest Bollywood blockbusters, star party circuits and much more. Touted as a light hearted show that promises to unburden your woes, the show seems more on the likes of Kandy Floss on Sony, which is being hosted by Archana Pooran Singh.

    “Humor makes friends, wins enemies and this show will make viewers unwind and laugh at issues that would otherwise end up as stressful experiences,” said Sahara One Television COO Purnendu Bose.

    Mrs. Punjabi is a typical Page 3 wannabe aunty with huge assets and flashy make up and low-necklines and an even lower IQ.

  • CNN scores with air travelers

    CNN scores with air travelers

    CNN International has another set of numbers to thump its chest about. The International Air Travelers survey (IATS Asia 7) – conducted by the European Data & Research Ltd (EDR) between March and April 2000 in the international departure/gate areas of ten major airports in Sydney, Melbourne, Manila, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Singapore and Taipei – has revealed that CNN reaches more than twice the number of international air travelers than its nearest rival the Beeb.

    The survey shows that CNNI reaches 37 per cent of international air travelers on a weekly basis as against BBC World’s 19 per cent and CNBC Asia’s 15.4 per cent. IATS Asia 7 also confirmed that CNN International reaches 50 per cent of all senior business executives surveyed, the CNN press release states.

    “This is a very positive result for CNN International. (It) endorse(s) our investment in regionalisation, which has meant a significant amount of extra spending to increase the localized content available to our viewers, ” says CNN International managing editor, Asia Pacific Bill Baggitt.