ITV

Tag: broadband

  • Vineeta Dwivedi is BBC World Service India business development manager

    Vineeta Dwivedi is BBC World Service India business development manager

    MUMBAI: BBC World Service has appointed Vineeta Dwivedi as the business development manager for India.

    Based in Delhi, she will be in charge of the broadcaster’s multi-media distribution and business development activities in India. Vineeta will be responsible for developing the distribution of BBC World Service output in India across a range of platforms including FM, broadband, DTH channel distribution system, mobile phones, satellite radio and TV.

    She will also manage FM partnerships following the recent BBC partnership with the Mid-Day Group and the Radio One network. Vineeta joined BBC World Service in 2001 and worked in a range of editorial and production roles before getting involved with the growing business development team in 2005.

    Prior to joining the BBC, she worked for the Press Trust of India. BBC World Service head of business development for the Asia/Pacific Region Michel Lobelle said: “The BBC intends to be at the heart of the current radio renaissance in India. It’s a very exciting time indeed, and we aim to further expand our presence across key platforms in India. Vineeta will play a crucial role in this expansion.”

  • Indian telecom and broadband take centre-stage at CII event

    Indian telecom and broadband take centre-stage at CII event

    MUMBAI: Telecom and broadband will be taking a centre-stage at Telecom and Broadband Summit and Expo 2006, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at the MMRDA Grounds, Mumbai on 23 and 24 November.

    This year’s theme is: India – The emerging telecom hub.

    The event has been planned to be a platform bringing together the entire telecom and broadband industry under one floor, as they display some of their technologies, discuss the business opportunities explored and unfold the current issues and future challenges in the sector. The event will have three main sections: the exhibition, the summit and the CEO’s round table, asserts an official release.

    The exhibition will focus on the growth of broadband connectivity and other new technologies in areas such as cellular technology, wireless network, broadcasting, etc, as well as their impact on this emerging market that is rapidly growing in global significance. The event emphasises on the impact of emerging technologies in the real life business environment.

    The summit will focus on mobile technology, business applications, next generation networks and broadband communications. It will focus and examine the opportunities existing for business to work in India and to achieve its goal in Telecom sector now and in long term, with the aim of accelerating its developments of convergent technologies and services.

    The CEO’s round table will be one of the highlights of the event, where the industry’s top minds will gather to deliberate on key strategic issues, adds the release.

    The event will have sessions on:

    – E-governance
    – WiMAX
    – Broadband deployment
    – NGN
    – Mobile telephony
    – Billing and CRM
    – Digital entertainment

    The visitors will primarily be engineers, technicians, buyers, production managers and sales managers from a diverse range of sectors including broadband and telecom.

  • IOL Broadband to hike share capital

    IOL Broadband to hike share capital

    MUMBAI: IOL Broadband has decided to increase the authorised share capital of the company from Rs 500 million divided into 50 million equity shares of Rs 10 each to Rs 700 million divided into 70 million equity shares of Rs 10 each.

    The board has agreed to issue and allot, on a preferential basis, upto 7 million equity share warrants (warrants), carrying an entitlement to subscribe to an equivalent number of equity shares of Rs 10 each at Rs 95 to Maula Trading Company, asserts an official release.

    The members will increase the investment limit for Foreign Institutional Investors upto 49 per cent, including their sub- accounts (FIIs), in the shares or bonds convertible into shares of the company, by purchase or acquisition from the market under the portfolio investment scheme under FEMA, subject to necessary provisions and approvals.

    An extra ordinary general meeting (EGM) of the members of the company will be held on 11 December to discuss the aforesaid matters, adds the release.

  • HBO, AOL launch a comedy site in the US

    HBO, AOL launch a comedy site in the US

    MUMBAI: US broadcaster HBO and internet service provider AOL, which offers online programming for over 100 million users each month, have joined forces on the new broadband website This Just In.

    The site is slated to launch in the first quarter of next year.

    This Just In will feature humour through the lens of current events ranging from pop culture to politics. It will reflect the broad range of comedy that HBO is known for including cutting edge social commentary, urban comedy and the most current new comedic voices. Leveraging AOLs leadership in online video and innovative web programming, This Just In will feature extensive video content, as well as a blog format that will enable users to tap into the days events as they are happening. This Just In will also be a platform to incubate new programming for other HBO platforms.

    The venture will be accessible at www.thisjustin.com. This Just In will replace the existing AOL Comedy channel.

    AOL Media Networks will represent This Just In to marketers, offering advertisers the opportunity to associate their brands with an HBO property for the first time ever with the site clearly identified as powered by HBO. In addition to traditional ad units, the venture will work closely with advertisers to create programming that incorporates marketing messages in a way that is as engaging as the content itself. AOL will support the site with all of the tools and technologies of its content publishing, video and social networking platforms as it has with TMZ.com, the successful 24/7 entertainment news website that AOL launched last year with sister company Telepictures.

    AOL executive VP, consumer and publisher servicesJim Bankoff says, “This venture will leverage AOL’s online expertise and HBO’s established reputation for comedy to provide a unique, engaging site for audiences across the web. What’s more, for advertisers, this is the first time they can connect to the HBO brand.”

    HBO executive VP, new media programming Group Carmi Zlotnick says, “Our goal is to create a robust destination that can have the potential of becoming part of the water cooler pop culture like many of our network programs have become. With our heritage and relationships in the comedy space, this platform is ideal for showcasing new forms of entertainment to todays savvy audience and allows us to discover fresh talent and ideas indigenous to new media.

    Running the venture is Steve Stanford who was the founder and CEO of Icebox.com, an early Internet comedy site that created programming with many top television writers, and was a co-founder and COO of the edgy, content-driven cell phone service Ampd Mobile. He says, “This is about creating a new kind of entertainment experience that couldnt exist in a non-interactive medium. We will be trying new things and taking risks in the process of developing great Internet comedy.”

    This Just In is an extension of HBO’s commitment to comedy and recognition that many of the most interesting things happening in comedy today are originating on the Internet. Content from the site may also be used across multiple platforms including HBO, HBO multiplex channels, HBO On Demand and HBO Mobile. The broadband comedy venture is only the most recent step HBO is taking to discover and develop up and coming talent.

  • NBC Universal laughs with broadband comedy channel

    NBC Universal laughs with broadband comedy channel

    MUMBAI: US media conglomerate NBC Universal has launched a comedy broadband channel DotComedy at www.dotcomedy.com.

    NBC Universal Cable Entertainment president Jeff Gaspin says, “The launch of this new digital brand is an important milestone for us. NBC Universal has built a great history of comedy from late-night to ‘must-see TV.’ DotComedy is a digital extension in the same tradition. Comedy is one of the most successful genres on the web and this broadband channel will appeal to the advertisers’ targeted demos.”

    The focus of the programming on the new channel will be original, web-exclusive material developed specifically for DotComedy. The broadband channel will also feature content from NBC’s legendary late-night shows, including the first ten years of David Letterman’s late night career – NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman along with Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

    Sitcom fans will find vintage material mined from the NBC Universal television library, featuring the HBO series Dream On, Leave It To Beaver, The Munsters, Coach and Significant Others. DotComedy will also be home to a wide selection of stand-up, sketch material and viral videos.

    Additionally, DotComedy will give users an opportunity to showcase their own comedic talents by providing them with a virtual stage on which the site will feature user-generated content.

  • MagnaQuest bags billing contract for Hyperia’s IPTV in Nigeria

    MagnaQuest bags billing contract for Hyperia’s IPTV in Nigeria

    MUMBAI:Hyderabad-based MagnaQuest has bagged a contract to manage the broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) billing services of Hyperia Ltd, Nigeria’s leading internet service provider.

    Hyperia has selected MagnaQuest’s convergent customer management and billing solution, MQSubscribe, for its triple play services. This will help support Hyperia’s increasing subscriber growth and value added offerings.

    MQSubscribe integration with network elements, mail server for provisioning and mediation of services will form part of the implementation. Hyperia offers a wide range of services like internet access, email, web hosting, wireless internet access and value added services.

    Says MagnaQuest managing director Vijay Debbad, “As we continue to increase our customer base across the world, and specifically in Africa, the choice of MQSubscribe by Hyperia is a testimony to the unique value proposition delivered by MagnaQuest. Hyperia is a premier name in the ISP services industry and we are proud to offer our CM&B solution to smoothen their operations.

    Adds Hyperia Ltd executive director Sandeep Jayaswal, “Rating and billing of multiple services involves a number of challenges. MagnaQuest’s experience in providing such sophisticated solution to similar business models will enable us to handle these challenges. These strengths of MagnaQuest have convinced us that they can provide a cost-effective and customized solution that will suite our existing and future business model.

    MagnaQuest Technologies provides customer care and billing solution for the video, data and content service providers. The company has a global presence with over 30 customer installations worldwide spanning Europe, Africa, South East Asia, Middle East and India.

  • Rajshri launches broadband entertainment portal, to release ‘Vivah’ for viewers at $9.90

    Rajshri launches broadband entertainment portal, to release ‘Vivah’ for viewers at $9.90

    NEW DELHI: Rajshri Group, one of the oldest production and distribution houses in the country, has launched a broadband entertainment portal, www.rajshri.com, that will offer streaming and downloading of various forms of content including movies, music videos, concerts, and documentaries.

    Rajshri’s latest movie, Vivah, will be premiered on the portal simultaneously along with its theatrical release on Friday. This is the first time in India that a film is being made available on the internet at the day of its release.

    The downloading of Vivah will be at a payment of $9.9 through an international credit card, said Rajshri Media (P) Ltd managing director Rajjat Barjatya. The copies do not run the risk of being pirated because of a special software that has been used, he added.

    Rajshri Media (P) Ltd will be the group’s digital media initiatives arm. This will cover streaming services which users don’t have to pay for. Among the broad gamut of content available is the historic midnight speech of late Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru on 15 August 1947. “We are also soon going to add humor, management-related content and spiritualism to our site,” said Barjatya.

    Describing the new initiative as an “historic moment,” Barjatya said the company had been working on this project for the past two years. The aim seems to be converting the ‘non-consumers into consumers’ while attempting to break the stranglehold of piracy.

    Barjatya is also targeting about 25 million Indians abroad, NRIs and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) put together, who are “extremely keen to stay in touch with their roots and will pay for rich and origial Indian content as against the pirated one.”

    About 51 per cent Indians abroad spent time daily on the net, he revealed. Besides, Indian content was also becoming extremely popular among non-Indians across the world.

    So how will the box office takings of Vivah, for instance, be a hit because of online viewing? “We are getting into a four screen scenario, instead of a two-screen one. Cinema theatres were always there, and then came TV, the big screen and the small screen. Now there is the internet and the mobile,” said Barjatya.

    “Each of these screens are a different experience and one cannot replace any of the other. It is one thing to see a film on the Net alone, and quite another doing so with the family on a TV set, or watching it in a dark hall with a lot of people, so there is no cutting into turfs,” he added.

    The delivery of movies through the internet could also cut down piracy. “If there is a viewer in say Finland, I can now get to him before the pirates can,” Barjatya said.

    A key feature of the site is that the movies can’t be pirated. “We have used a software which ‘wraps around the programme’ and while it is being streamed, it cannot be copied, nor downloaded. Even while it is ‘sitting’ on the hard disk for 72 hours, it cannot be made into a CD or DVD,” he said.

    The portal is also aimed at the tech-savvy younger audience. “The site has a lot of features. You can actually saute the film, slice and dice it, rate it, send a link to a friend and read what others have to comment about it,” Barjatya said.

  • Buena Vista, BT sign video on demand deal in the UK

    Buena Vista, BT sign video on demand deal in the UK

    MUMBAI: Buena Vista International Television (BVITV), the international TV distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company, and BT Plc, have announced that they have concluded a multi-year broadband video-on-demand rental agreement in the UK.

    This will make available, on-demand, a selection of upcoming, current and library movies from BVITV’s portfolio via BT’s upcoming next-generation TV service, BT Vision. This agreement is in line with The Walt Disney Company’s focus on the application of technology to enhance its content and expand its distribution, asserts an official release.
    Through this agreement, BT Vision’s customers will be able to purchase on-demand a selection of current and upcoming features from Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films. Titles include Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Shaggy Dog and Scary Movie 4. The agreement also includes a range of library features, adds the release.

    BVITV EMEA executive vice president and managing director Tom Toumazis said, “As flexibility and choice of content become increasingly important factors to the entertainment consumer, we’re pleased to be working with BT to offer this strong selection of our movie titles to BT Vision’s customers across the UK, in a convenient range of ways on this exciting new digital service.”

    BT Vision CEO Dan Marks said, “We are delighted to announce this agreement with The Walt Disney Company. BT Vision’s film service will be immensely strengthened by our ability to offer current movies from one of the strongest studios and a great selection of titles from Disney’s magnificent catalogue. We look forward to working with Disney to develop and use innovative technology to continue providing our customers with choice, convenience and control over their movie-watching.”

    At launch, BT Vision customers will be able to enjoy a vast range of film, music and television programming available on-demand as well as interactive services and all the Freeview channels, all available on the TV, with no compulsory subscription. This combination, delivered on a software platform powered by Microsoft and through a set-top box made by Philips, will allow customers choice, control and convenience.

    BT Vision has already announced content deals with a range of entertainment companies including Dreamworks, i-concerts, Eagle Rock, BBC Worldwide, Paramount, Warner Music Group, National Geographic Channel,Universal,SONY BMG, Viacom and Turner Broadcasting; as well as with independents including Lionsgate, Entertainment Rights plc, NBD Television and Wall to Wall Television. BT Vision has also announced near-live FA Premier League matches from the 2007-2008 season, adds the release.

    This agreement was concluded by BVITV vice president Digital Media Damian Newton and executive director Sales UK and Ireland Catherine Powell, working with BT Vision’s director business affairs Mark Cranwell and head of film Bobbie Fox.

  • BSkyB’s Q1 revenues up 11 %

    BSkyB’s Q1 revenues up 11 %

    MUMBAI: UK pay TV platform BSkyB has announced results for the first quarter ended 30 September 2006.

    Revenues increased by 11 per cent to £1071 million.

    DTH subscribers increased to 8.258 million, net growth of 82,000 in the quarter. Sky+ households increased by 139,000 in the quarter to 1,692,000, represtning a 20 per cent penetration of total DTH subscribers.

    Multiroom households increased by 46,000 in the quarter to 1,093,000, a 13 per cent penetration of total DTH subscribers. HD households increased to 96,000, net growth of 58,000 in the quarter.

    BSkyB CEO James Murdoch said, “This has been an important period for the company. We are building on our leadership in pay television and are becoming an increasingly well positioned challenger in the £20 billion combined industry for pay television, broadband and telephone services. Sky has delivered the highest first quarter subscriber growth for three years and is seeing high demand across our range of services.

    “One in three families in the UK and Republic of Ireland are choosing Sky for the widest choice in television and now almost a quarter of those families take at least one additional product from us as well. While it is still early, we are pleased with the progress since the launch of Sky Broadband and in just 15 weeks, we’ve seen a great response from Sky customers. Our preparations, pace of provisioning and investments in service and systems to manage demand are performing well. Our strategy is leading to an increase in revenue growth with overall revenues up 11 per cent in the quarter.

    “Our expansion into new areas is supported by continued growth and strong financial performance with pay television EBITDA up eight per cent in the quarter. A wide choice of quality programmes, innovative services like HDTV, Sky+, and broadband are not only attracting new customers, but also offering new services to existing customers. There’s never been a better time to join in.”

    The total number of DTH digital satellite subscribers in the UK and Ireland was 8,258,000, representing a net increase of 82,000 in the quarter and the highest first quarter net subscriber growth since 2003. Strong demand for Sky’s broad range of products led to an increase in gross additions of 14 per cent on the comparable period to 325,000; gross additions were 34 per cent higher than those recorded in the three months to September 2004.

    Sky+ the firm says continues to exceed expectations, with over 20 per cent of all Sky households now taking the product. At 30 September 2006, the number of households subscribing to Sky+ was 1,692,000, an increase of 139,000. During the quarter, the Group reduced the price of Sky+ for existing customers, removing the necessity to take a Multiroom subscription, and thereby allowing them to upgrade at the same attractive rates as new joiners.

    Sky HD subscribers more than doubled during the quarter to 96,000, the fastest ever customer take-up of an additional Sky product, and already representing three times the sales levels achieved by Sky+ in its first year.

  • EuroNews launches on broadband in Japan

    EuroNews launches on broadband in Japan

    MUMBAI: EuroNews expands its distribution in Asia and launches on broadband in Japan. The news broadcaster has concluded an agreement with The New Media Group (TNMG), based in Tokyo, for the launch of the channel in Japan.

    Beginning in November, the international news channel in Europe will be available on The World On Demand IPTV platform owned and operated by TNMG, according to an official release.

    Initially, the channel will be broadcast in English and French, eventually expanding to include additional languages, as EuroNews also broadcasts simultaneously in German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

    EuroNews has also signed an agreement with Hamers Company, based in Yokohama, for the distribution of EuroNews in hotels within Japan.

    EuroNews chairman and CEO Philippe Cayla said: “EuroNews is available in this part of the world in India, in Australia and in New Caledonia, we also are already distributed in IPTV in Hong-Kong and now Japan. We are pleased to have an agreement with for The New Media Group to also launch EuroNews on “The World On Demand” platform in Korea and Taiwan next year. We are also starting to expand the distribution of the channel in hotel rooms first in Japan and later throughout Asia”

    “The vision of the World on Demand is to bring together communities and deliver a user experience comprised of high brand-value VOD and linear channels along with community management tools,” said TNMG president Randy McGraw. “Our alliance with EuroNews – which is one of the best news brands in Europe – is exactly the type of content that our user communities want.”