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NEW DELHI: Star and Dish TV move towards a consensus by shaking hands even as the launch of Tata Sky‘s DTH service is imminent.

A day before the Supreme Court is to hear a case on channel pricing, Star today delivered to Dish TV, country‘s first pay DTH platform, the integrated receiver decoder boxes that would enable the DTH operator to access Star channels for redistribution purpose.

Some formalities are yet to be completed, both the companies said.

Dish TV CEO Sunil Khanna added, “It might take a couple of days for us to start beaming the Star channels on the platform as the boxes need to be tested.”

As per a directive of the disputes tribunal TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal), Star has offered its channels to Dish TV at Rs 27 per subscriber a month. Dish would also not pay any minimum guarantee money to Star.

A spokesperson for Star India said that in deference to TDSAT directive an offer was made to Dish TV despite the latter moving the Supreme Court on the tribunal order.

Not clear at the moment is what would happen to a Supreme Court case, which was filed by Dish TV some time back. Dish had petitioned that instead of Rs 27, the Star channels should come to it cheaper as Star had offered its channels to Dish some years back at one-fourth the price paid by cable ops.

The price of Rs 27 fixed by TDSAT for Star bouquet of channels is 50 per cent of Rs 54 that a cable operator presently pays.

Dish TV sources said the Supreme Court case is likely to continue, but is unlikely to have much of a bearing on the present truce called by Dish and Star. The apex court will be hearing the Dish TV petition on 4 August.

Dish TV has been waging a legal battle for over a year to get Star and Sony-Discovery channels on its platform. The Sony-Discovery One Alliance recently signed up with Dish TV.

Meanwhile, Dish’s Khanna said that a price revision of the monthly subscription would be decided in a few days time. “In all probability, Star Plus and other popular channels would be part of Dish TV’s basic tier of service, which also includes other mass general entertainment channels like Zee TV, Sony and HBO.”

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

Dish moves TDSAT against Star

TDSAT puts a lock on any DTH operator carrying Star channels

MUMBAI: Mobile2win has announced the launch of Anthony Kaun Hai (AKH) mobile game. They have launched the game in an exclusive tie-up with Nikhil Panchamiya, the producer of the film. The game has been developed in-house using the latest Java technology.

Mobile2win India country head Rajiv Hiranandani said, “Indian consumers are looking for entertainment at their fingertips and mobile2win has recognised that and has thus brought AKH to the consumers. The growth of Bollywood related content is only going to increase with the increased cellular penetration levels into smaller cities and we are well positioned to tap into that.”

Panchamiya added, “We are very optimistic with this tie-up with Mobile2Win. The mobile phone has become an extra entertainment channel for today‘s youth and we are very keen to explore this further with the Mobile2Win partnership.”
The Anthony Kaun Hai mobile game and content can be downloaded onto any GPRS enabled handsets via the Mobile2Win zone through major mobile operators like Airtel, Hutch, BPL, Idea, Spice, Reliance, BSNL, MTNL, Tata etc covering all circles across the country. This content has also been made available to leading media entities for downloads to their consumers.

Anthony Kaun Hai game has been devised keeping in mind the new generation of mobile users. As in the movie, Champ (Arshad Warsi) has a visitor, who‘s carrying a nasty looking gun. Master Madan (Sanjay Dutt) has come to put a bullet in Champ‘s head. If Champ doesn‘t act fast, he‘ll end up with a hole in his head. The game‘s aim is to help Champ escape and quickly. There are 10 levels. Arshad starts at the top floor of the hotel and ends when he manages to slip out of the lobby. There are more walls in the higher levels. Each level is a different floor of the hotel.

Every few times Master Madan makes a move, a blurb appears containing one of his dialogues from the movie appears such as Anthony Kaun Hai? Champ will respond accordingly depending on the text, which appears. When Madan says, Anthony kaun hai?, he replies “Main Nahi.”

Alternatively, a pop up can appear. Champ‘s pop up will show a picture of a scared Arshad Warsi accompanied by text.

MUMBAI: MIH, part of the multinational media group Naspers Limited, has appointed Ashish Kashyap as the CEO of MIH‘s internet operations in India.
 
As the overall head for the company‘s operations in India, Kashyap will be responsible for creating an organisation focused on building and operating cutting edge internet and mobile applications, unleashing consumer internet brands and also investing in start up businesses in the Indian online and digital space.
 
Kashyap has over 12 years of experience spanning internet, television and radio businesses. Prior to joining MIH-Internet, Kashyap was the country head of Google India (Domestic Operations), wherein he set up the company‘s India facing business from scratch. Before joining Google, Kashyap, was the general manager e-commerce at Indiatimes.com, where he was responsible for creating numerous innovations such as airline ticket auctions and tell your price amongst others. Kashyap also has had successful stints at MTV and Times FM.

MIH Internet (India) head of investments Craig White said, “MIH operates in over 50 countries worldwide wherein we are market leaders. The Indian internet and mobile businesses represent one of the largest global opportunities for us. We see the opportunity from two prisms. First, building unique internet applications and second, investing and seeding entrepreneurial debuts. Ashish brings with him a wealth of industry experience especially in the internet business that will help us set a strong foundation in this dynamic market.”

“I continue to be passionate about innovating and creating disruptive consumer applications in the internet and mobile space – products and services that would make lives simpler and exciting for the Indian consumer. I am excited to join MIH‘s internet business in India at a very interesting time, wherein there is a clear market opportunity on one hand and a very aggressive mandate from MIH in India on the other. I am confident I will be able to fulfil my passions and at the same time drive value for all the stake holders,” added Kashyap.

MUMBAI: MtvU, MTV‘s 24-hour college network and a division of Viacom Inc., has announced an agreement to acquire Boston-based Y2M, the parent company of an online advertising network of 450 campus newspaper websites.

Adding Y2M to MtvU and to MTV Networks‘ overall portfolio is another step in MTVN‘s strategy to super-serve its audiences with relevant and innovative content, and to be a leader in the digital space.

Following MTVN‘s recent purchases of XFire, Gametrailers, IFilm and Neopets, this acquisition demonstrates the company‘s continued commitment to being a premier multi- platform media company across every screen consumers use.

The network reaches over five million college students via 450 online campus papers — the most powerful local media brand on campus — which serve as definitive on-campus information hubs, providing local news, sports, weather, event
listings and much more.

“This acquisition is in line with our business strategy of moving forward in the digital space and continually expanding our online portfolio of music, gaming, news and entertainment,” MTVN chairman and CEO Judy McGrath says. “Bringing MtvU and Y2M together is another avenue for us to be everywhere our audiences are, deepening our relationship with them and connecting them across every platform and device, all the time.”

According to an official release, MtvU and Y2M will together create stronger multi-platform offerings, giving advertisers the most effective and comprehensive methods to connect with college students on-air, online, on the handset, in print and on campus. MtvU‘s national advertisers will benefit from an increased ability to develop targeted, localized campaigns, and Y2M‘s advertisers can capitalize on MtvU‘s industry-leading expertise in emerging media platforms such as broadband video and mobile phones.

Additionally, the combination of Y2M and MtvU will provide editors of student papers in the College Publisher network the ability to easily include rich media and a whole suite of new features on their online sites without impacting the editorial or design independence of each paper‘s staff. New features that will become available to affiliates include enhanced community functionality, a vast library of emerging music, and the means to create university-specific online networks. MtvU will also offer the student papers access to the network‘s base of more than 120 top-tier advertisers, enabling new ad sales and revenue sharing opportunities.

“MtvU and Y2M complement each other perfectly — as the definitive college television and online student paper networks — and together, these two mediums are powerful connectors to college students across every touch point,” MTV president Christina Norman. “We can now provide new, innovative, turn-key methods for our advertisers to reach this powerful demographic and continue to find new ways to super-serve the college market.”

“Student publications are the lifeblood of college campuses, and we‘re looking forward to supporting them with new tools and advertising opportunities — empowering them to expand their offerings and audience, as well as improve their financial performance,” said MtvU GM Stephen Friedman. “Y2M‘s unmatched network and stellar team are a welcome addition to MtvU and together we‘ll unlock a myriad of new opportunities for college students and universities nationwide.”

“The combination of Y2M and MtvU will advance the mission of college newspapers across the country and enhance their commercial opportunities with regional and national advertisers. Together, this will strengthen our ability to serve the unique needs of our 450 university newspaper partners, the 7,000 student journalists who rely on our publishing and hosting technology, and the two million registered online subscribers in the College Publisher network,” said Y2M president and co-founder John Fees, “We are extremely optimistic about the potential this holds for our college newspaper partners, Y2M and MtvU.”

MtvU has grown rapidly since launching in early 2004, increasing distribution more than 35 per cent and tripling the size of its advertiser base.

The network has also proliferated on multiple platforms, becoming the first MTV Networks channel distributed in its entirety on broadband and increasing on campus events to more than 300 a year. This transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2006.

MUMBAI: What is perceived as a last ditch attempt to save its sinking internet business initiative AOL, Time Warner has decided to switch the service to free-to-access mode from September.

With this move, AOL will attempt to transform itself into a full-fledged online media business venture, banking purely on advertising revenue and competing directly with rivals in this space Google, Yahoo and MSN. Approximately $2 billion subscriber revenue, which the company will miss now with the move, is expected to be made up in advertising.

Time Warner will be implementing the free service in September this year. Former customers will be able to reactivate their accounts for free when the effort takes effect in September. According to industry estimates, AOL has lost a third of its subscribers since 2002.

This is the next logical step for AOL to capitalize further on the explosive rise in broadband usage and online advertising. With its robust and rapidly expanding advertising operation, we expect to put AOL back on a growth path,” Time Warner president Jeff Bewkes has been quoted in media reports as saying.