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  • PBS Kids selects first-ever live host of new preschool block

    MUMBAI: PBS Kids has its first-ever live host — Chicago-based performer, teacher and mom Lori Holton Nash — for its new preschool destination, which will launch on 4 September.


    As the new host, Nash and an animated sidekick will guide kids through a two-hour programming block for preschoolers. The new block will feature four PBS Kids programs age- appropriately grouped including PBS Kids‘ two new series — Curious George, emphasising science, math and engineering and narrated by Emmy-winning actor William H. Macy, and It‘s a Big Big World, highlighting science and geography — alongside existing shows like Clifford The Big Dog and Dragon Tales.


    “Based on research PBS conducted with parents we identified valuable content that parents feel is missing from children‘s media today, including positive real adult role models and opportunities to connect lessons learned from programming to kids‘ lives. PBS Kids new preschool destination will meet parents‘ needs by introducing Lori, a host who has a passion for children and a unique and engaging teaching style that incorporates humor, music, movement and storytelling,” said PBS Kids Next Generation Media senior vice president Lesli Rotenberg.


    After an extensive nationwide talent search, PBS Kids named Nash as the host of its new preschool block to inspire and entertain kids in a playful setting designed to spark kids‘ imaginations, give them a greater sense of discovery and build their excitement for learning about the world around them. In addition to her on-air and online presence, she will make appearances at various events across the country, visiting local PBS member stations and participating in children‘s events.


    “I‘m extremely excited to be named PBS Kids‘ first-ever host. Performing and educating is not just what I do, it‘s who I am and I look forward to reaching out to children across the country through the most trusted kids content source, PBS Kids. I grew up watching PBS‘ children‘s programs and today, I am raising my own kids as PBS Kids,” said Nash.


    In addition to Nash‘s broadcast debut, the new block will feature the premiere of Curious George. Produced by Imagine Entertainment, WGBH Boston and Universal Studios Family Productions, and based on the best-selling Curious George books. The series encourages inquiry and curiosity, promotes hands-on exploration, and shows parents and caregivers how to support children‘s science and math-related play.


    PBS Kids new hosted preschool destination is one part of PBS Kids Next Generation Media, a broad-based initiative to define public television‘s role in the changing digital children‘s media landscape.


    In addition to the launch of the new preschool environment, PBS recently announced a new 24/7 early elementary school digital broadcast service, PBS Kdis Go! Channel, scheduled to launch in October 2006 and delivered to the community through local PBS stations, which will meet the educational and developmental needs of this underserved audience.

  • Doordarshan unveils mobile, digital initiatives

    Doordarshan unveils mobile, digital initiatives

    MUMBAI: Doordarshan will launch its Digital Video Broadcasting to Handhelds (DVB-H) service in the second half of 2006. The technology will help the consumer to access video clips on mobile phones.

    “With this technology, we will be able to make available the content of our four national channels on mobiles. Earlier, we had made available DD News in moving vehicles in Delhi through the Digital Video Broadcasting to terrestrials (DVB-T) earlier. Now with the DVB-H technology, we are entering the mobile space,” says Doordarshan director general Navin Kumar.

    In another initiative to explore advanced technology, DD will digitize its archive and make it available to the public as streaming videos. The content will be available to consumers on a per view basis.

    “Our effort is to share this content with people through CDs and streaming videos. In streaming mode, people will be able to watch the programmes in real time basis,” says Kumar, adding that discussions are presently on with various telecom service providers in this direction.

  • Microsoft, PBS create global web resource to enhance AIDS understanding

    Microsoft, PBS create global web resource to enhance AIDS understanding

    MUMBAI: A quarter-century after the first diagnosed cases surfaced, HIV/AIDS continues to spread rapidly throughout the world. To help shed more light on the history of this pandemic and educate people about what can be done to stop it, Microsoft Corp. principal researcher Curtis Wong has teamed up with producers of the PBS television series Frontline to develop an enhanced broadband television web site for a new documentary titled The Age of AIDS.

    Wong, who manages the Next Media Research group within Microsoft Research, worked closely with WGBH Interactive and the producers of Frontline to design the technology for the web site. Beginning on 2 June, the web site at http://www.pbs.org/frontline/aids will allow visitors to view The Age of AIDS video on demand, in its entirety or chapter by chapter, along with related, interactive online content that is tightly integrated with the video footage.

    “What’s unique about this approach is that it seamlessly combines a compelling television program with rich web resources to significantly enhance people’s understanding of a complex topic like AIDS. It highlights the tremendous potential of Internet television with rich interactivity to deliver in-depth content to a global audience,” said Wong.

    As people watch The Age of AIDS documentary online, contextual links appear beside the video to inform viewers about topics directly related to that portion of the program. Clicking on any link automatically pauses the video, allowing viewers to explore related resources at their leisure and then return to the documentary without missing a moment.

    Other links will take the viewer to a detailed explanation of the science of HIV/AIDS or an interactive timeline cross-referenced to the video and other resources in the site. The site also hosts an oral history archive of extended interviews with the top scientists, physicians, public-health officials and activists who have been fighting this battle for 25 years.

    Wong’s group at Microsoft Research explores how advances in connectivity, data storage, computing devices, network bandwidth and other technologies influence traditional as well as emerging forms of media. “The HIV/AIDS epidemic has so many facets — from the science to the politics to the social ramifications to the human stories — that cry out to be examined in greater depth and dimension than a four-hour television program can deliver,” Wong said.

    “It’s an honor to work with WGBH Interactive and the Frontline producers to provide innovative ideas and technology as a tool for enhancing public understanding and hopefully shaping public policy on HIV/AIDS. And this has been a great opportunity to support public television and build on Microsoft’s insights into the future of media,” Wong added.

    Filmed in 19 countries, The Age of AIDS features interviews with dozens of scientists, political figures, activists and HIV patients. The documentary is a co-production of WGBH/Frontline and Paladin InVision Ltd. with Silverbridge Productions Ltd. and Channel 4.

    PBS stations will air the two-part Frontline documentary.

    “Curtis has brought crucial expertise to this production in terms of combining interactive web technology tools and deep stores of online information with the rich storytelling power of television. The Age of AIDS companion web site will enable us to convey far more in-depth information about this pandemic to a much larger global audience than would otherwise be possible with this documentary alone,” said Frontline creator and executive producer David Fanning.

  • BSG to manage mobile call volume during Fifa World Cup

    BSG to manage mobile call volume during Fifa World Cup

    MUMBAI: BSG Clearing Solutions GmbH, the communications service industry’s clearing and settlement provider, today announced that its systems are well prepared to deal with the heavy increase in capacity for roaming clearing that will result from the growth in mobile call volume during the weeks of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

    “This will be the biggest sporting event in the world and mobile communications will have an unprecedented role in spectator enjoyment this year. As the exclusive roaming partner for virtually all wireless operators in Germany, BSG will be on hand to ensure there are no ‘own goals’ behind the scenes,” said BSG CEO Roland J. Bopp.

    An estimated five million fans from all continents around the globe, supporting the 32 nationalities taking part, are expected to visit Germany during the four-week World Cup competition. Mobile phones will be used to relay messages, download content, send pictures and texts to friends and family, as well as to record goals and highlights. Companies are already promoting World Cup-related content, such as player photos, historic video clips, ring tones and games, and operators are expecting intense traffic volumes in largely unpredictable spikes.

    All German wireless operators, including T-Mobile and O2, are BSG clients and will be relying on the company to process and clear all roaming transactions.

    “Our system ordinarily handles large volumes of traffic and is designed to scale accordingly so that it can easily handle the additional anticipated traffic. Nonetheless, we’ve taken the cautionary validation steps to ensure our system will continue to operate smoothly throughout this period of expected transaction spike so our customers are provided with the same high-quality level of service to which they’re accustomed,” said BSG chief technology officer Abie Reifer.

    “We’re proud to be part of this important, global event and are confident in BSG’s ability to fully support us. Knowing they’ll be handling the increase in mobile call volume allows us to focus on giving our customers the best experience possible,” said O2 Germany vice president carrier and international services Dirk Schmelzer.

  • Xinhua China acquires HDTV editing technology

    Xinhua China acquires HDTV editing technology

    MUMBAI: Xinhua China Ltd. has acquired leading Chinese high definition television text-editing software company Bear Technology. The acquisition expands Xinhua’s presence in the rapidly expanding digital media industry in China.

    Founded in 2002, Bear Technology offers multiple proprietary solutions for rendering and editing text in high definition (HD). Bear text-editing software is an essential component in the production of HDTV content, which require on-screen text to be rendered in HD for enhanced visual fidelity, according to Xinhua China.

    Some applications for Bear’s software include personal and commercial HD cameras, televised language translation, closed-captioning, and news and entertainment programming. Currently, Bear Technology customers include leading HDTV and camera manufacturers such as Sony and Panasonic, Xinhua China said.

    The company stated that although China’s digital television market is relatively small by North American standards, the annual compounded growth rate of digital television subscribers is estimated to grow at 165 per cent per year from 2005 to 2008. With 5.3 million home subscribers in 2005, up from one million in 2004, digital TV in China is enjoying exponential growth.

    “HDTV software is a complementary technology to our initiatives to expand our business base through the sale of digital media online in China. We are fortunate to have had this opportunity at a time when HDTV is rapidly overtaking older television technology. We believe HDTV has the potential to further enhance the online experience for enjoyment of all types of online media in China,” said Xinhua China CEO Xianping Wang.

    “The acquisition of Bear Technology will position Xinhua China as a leading provider of HD content text editing. We see significant revenue opportunities over the long-term as the convergence of the personal computer and High Definition Digital Television gathers momentum,” he added.

    In addition, upon completion of the purchase of all the issued capital in Bear Technology, the company agrees to grant in aggregate six million stock options to employees, officers and directors of Bear Technology. The options will be priced at the time of issue.

  • Nat Geo Kids appoints Vermeulen as head of sales













    MUMBAI: National Geographic Television International (NGTI) has appointed Karen Vermeulen as its first dedicated kids sales person. Vermeulen will be based in London in the new role of head of kids’ sales but will also work closely with National Geographic Kids‘ programming and production president Donna Friedman Meir – along with her US-based team – to drive the development of this growing area of National Geographic’s business.



    Vermeulen joins from Entertainment Rights where she was territory manager UK, Ireland and German-speaking Europe, responsible for maximising TV, new media and DVD sales for a range of properties including Postman Pat, Basil Brush, Little Red Tractor and Barbie. In addition, she managed the strategic rollout of licensing and merchandising for core brands in Germany.


    At National Geographic, Vermeulen will build on this experience, undertaking the key sales role for National Geographic Kids’ programming, but she will also have responsibility for managing the growing stable of brand franchises and developing properties for maximum benefit.


    Current programmes in production from National Geographic Kids include Mama Mirabelle‘s Home Movies, a mix of animation and live-action wildlife footage for preschoolers, produced in partnership with King Rollo Films; Iggy Aruckle, an animated comedy adventure for kids 6 – 11, produced with Blueprint Entertainment; Toot & Puddle: I‘ll Be Home For Christmas based on the award-winning book by Holly Hobbie and being animated by Grand Slamm Children’s Films; and the first global reality adventure series for little kids, Are We There Yet?, produced in partnership with Cellar Door and Sinking Ship Productions.


    Friedman Meir said, “We are thrilled to welcome Karen to the team and to have someone in London who can work more closely with our European partners on a regular basis. She brings a wealth of very valuable experience to our developing business and has a real feel for integrated property management. She joins National Geographic at a pivotal time; in addition to those shows already in production we have a large number of unique and outstanding properties in development, targeting pre-schoolers, school-age kids and tweens with our hallmark approach – entertaining programmes that excite kids to explore their world.”


    NGTI president Ian Jones added, “The addition of Karen to our team, along with the kids programming to the NGTI catalogue, marks a new era for our business and a natural extension for our brand. Donna and her team in the US have already done a fantastic job in establishing National Geographic as a player in the kids market, particularly in Europe, and I have every confidence that Karen is the ideal person to consolidate and build on that activity going forward.”

  • BBC World to go pay from mid-June; price undecided

    BBC World to go pay from mid-June; price undecided

    MUMBAI: BBC World is going pay. It will encrypt its feed to South Asia, beaming off PanAmSat10 satellite, from 15 June.

    BBC World director of distribution and business development Jeff Hazell confirmed to Indiantelevision.com the plans to go pay, but refused to divulge the rate that will be charged from the cable ops.

    “We do not have a direct relationship with the consumer. How the cable operators choose to package and bundle the price for the service is entirely up to them,” Hazell said.

    However, information collated from cable ops in Delhi and Mumbai reveals that BBC World has indicated a price of Rs 5.50 to its distribution dealers. The price might ultimately settle somewhere between Rs 4.50 Rs 5.50, a cable operator in Delhi opined.

    The boxes will be made available to key MSOs, cable operators and hoteliers in South Asia to facilitate the move to an encrypted mode, though a section of cable ops in Delhi said it is yet to hear from BBC World on its plans to go pay.

    “As a commercial channel, the transition from free-to-air to a subscription model is a natural progression for BBC World in South Asia. This change is in response to the dynamic and rapidly expanding cable TV and DTH satellite market across the region,” BBC World regional director of distribution and business development, Europe, Middle-East & South Asia Gerry Ritchie said.

    Amongst the 25-odd news channels, both at the national and regional level, only a handful are pay channels in the real sense. The news channel that are pay include Zee News, NDTV 24X7, NDTV Profit, CNBCTV18 and Times Now.

    BBC World South Asia head of distribution and business development Amit Upadhayay feels that his team of 10 professionals are ready for the new challenge. But what about carriage fee?

    According to Upadhayay, “The decision to go pay was taken after close interaction with cable operators, distributors and MSOs. We have not been paying carriage fee till date and people in the market understand that. We want to partner with cable operators and work closely with them to have a mutually benefit relationship.”

    Pointing out that the Indian distribution market is emerging as a substantial subscription market for both Indian and international broadcasters, Upadhayay said response from distributors have been
    “encouraging.”

    “They feel the channel is a strong brand as it serves an important and influential audience across the region,” he added.

    BBC World is presently available to 15 million Indian households and 60,000 hotel rooms across the country. The channel’s advertising sales did well in 2005.

    The change in the status of BBC World will be communicated through the channel’s website on-screen scroll, which should start running in a few days time.

  • Dish TV to come down hard on pirating cable ops













    NEW DELHI: India’s first direct-to-home service Dish TV today issued an ultimatum to cable operators filching its signals.

     

    In a rear guard action against piracy, a massive operation has been announced to crackdown on pirating cable operators who are using the Dish’s set-top boxes as a medium to illegally distribute TV channels (some of which are exclusively on the DTH platform) to the cable consumers.

     

    According to Essel Group of Indistries additional vice-chairman Jawahar Goel, “It is important to send out the message that product counterfeiting will not be tolerated as it has an extremely detrimental effect on the whole fraternity, including content creators, broadcasters, and the government.”


    ASC Enterprises, an Essel Group company, holds the licence for a DTH service in the country, which is marketed under the brand name Dish TV.


    According to an official statement from Dish TV, a local cable operator in Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh was caught by the police, along with Dish’s anti-piracy team, on Saturday for illegally showing ESPN and Star Sports through a Dish TV box when he did not have an agreement with ESS to re-distribute the sports channels.


    The police has seized the errant cable operator’s infrastructure and the chip of Dish TV, which gives access to the DTH service.


    Commenting on the development, Goel added, “We expect support from broadcasting and the film industry as well to take up this effort to curb piracy, which is to the tune of over 10 billion annually.”


    The official statement said that of the 1.1 million subscribers of Dish TV, about 5,000 have been found to be allegedly indulging in piracy of signals. While their connections have been switched off, legal action too has been initiated against them.

  • Cellcast’s Bid2Win receives 1mn bids in first week













    MUMBAI: Cellcast Interactive India Pvt. Ltd., a global interactive digital broadcaster, has claimed that its TV show, Bid2Win launched earlier this month, collected over a million bids in its opening week.

     

    The show is broadcast every evening on Sony, Sahara One, Zoom and Zee Punjabi by using an interactive reverse auction system, Bid2Win. It enables viewers to purchase high-value items such as LCD TVs, iPods, home theatre systems, digital cameras and laptops, at a nominal amount by submitting the lowest unique bid via SMS and IVR.


    An official release suggests that, such the show has helped open up the market for premium mobile services in India, thus, Cellcast‘s popular format has subsequently been launched in many markets across the Middle East and China.

     

    Commenting on the successful launch of the show in India, Cellcast plc CEO Andrew Wilson says, “Until now, the market for live interactive programming, which has been so successful in other parts of the world, has been constrained in India by extremely low tariffs. With Bid2Win, Cellcast has shown that subscribers are willing to pay for premium mobile services, particularly if they have a strong TV tie-in. With the world‘s fastest growing mobile subscriber base and a vibrant multi-platform television industry, India is now ready for the full range of interactive products that Cellcast has proven in other markets.”


    Capitalising on its success in India, Cellcast plans to roll-out Bid2Win to other Indian television networks across the globe over the next three months. “Broadcasters can now expand their content offerings to the Indian diaspora beyond the current staple of movies, drama and music and enjoy new revenue streams at the same time,” added Wilson.


    Commenting on future growth potential, Cellcast Interactive India CEO Pankaj Thakar says, “We have an exciting range of new products and shows which we expect to launch in India over the next six months. These include Golden Goal, a virtual soccer show to be aired during World Cup; a new virtual cricket show Beat Them All; an interactive astrology show, Interactive Astro; an exciting game similar to Tambola, Go Bingo; the numbers quiz Qeno; a celebrity-based quiz show, The Challenge; an interactive shopping show, Shop-o-holic; an interactive show based on Bollywood, Bollywood Dhamaka and Insomnia, the interactive gameshow enjoying international success.”

  • MatrixStream introduces internet based IPTV encoders

    MUMBAI: MatrixStream Technologies, Inc, a technology company specialising in full integrated, end to end IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) solutions, introduced a new series, offering standard definition MPEG 4 AVC / VC-1 and a MPEG 4 AVC high definition encoder, respectively dubbed IMX4000 and IMX4500.


    Most video encoders currently available on the market are not optimized for IPTV and work over multi-cast enabled networks only. However, MatrixStream’s IMX4000 series digital encoders as part of MatrixStream’s end to end IPTV platform resolves systems integration issues, problematic issues which previously posed enormous NRE and deployment barriers and costs, allowing broadband providers the capability to offer broadcast quality television and video related services over the public internet.


    Moreover, MatrixStream IPTV encoders supports Matrixstream patent pending XMS streaming solution, optimised for 750 kbps for DVD quality streams and 2.5 Mbps for high definition quality streams – an extremely responsive with instant channel changing with multiple picture in picture and robust solution suited for high quality video deployment over any best effort broadband connection.


    Also the video signal is kept all digital, resulting in an IPTV platform that rival or exceed the experience of cable or satellite TV. The IMX4000 series high definition encoders are expected to be released in Q4 2006, and will be marketed along with MatrixStream’s IMX1020 1080P set top box, which shall create a complete high definition IPTV platform solution that can stream over any best effort broadband connection without quality of service (QoS).